Cricket’s dirty secret: Unpaid players, rogue officials and bad governance
In many ways, these are heady days for cricket. A return to the Olympics in LA in 2028 promises to take a sport with pockets of fervent support to new audiences; The Hundred has shown the game’s appeal to deep-pocketed investors; and the recent series between England and India delivered thrills and spills in the way only Test cricket can.
Yet beneath the surface serious governance concerns persist, from the vast disparity in revenue and influence wielded by a small coterie of nations to the financial solvency of many of the white-ball leagues that have popped up around the world – and the apparent unwillingness of the game’s powers to offer the players who populate them adequate protections.
Last month the second iteration of the Max60 Caribbean league in the Cayman Islands featuring stars such as David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan, Alex Hales and Carlos Brathwaite was cut short after players went on strike. The downing of tools followed an alleged failure by the tournament’s organisers to make payments that were due a month before it started.
Unpaid players undermine professionalism
“Players are workers and are applying their trade in these various leagues,” said lawyer Matthew Showler, who acts for affected cricketers. “Like anyone, not getting paid for your services has a serious financial impact for players and their families. It should not be left to the players to take matters into their own hands for the most basic of entitlements.
“It undermines the professionalism of a sport which continues to want to position itself as the second biggest in the world. In other global professional sports, there are established systems in place to prevent and resolve these issues. This highlights the need for greater accountability in cricket.”
The Max60 debacle is not the first, and neither is the problem restricted to franchise leagues. Oman’s players complained that they never received any prize money banked by their country from the International Cricket Council for performances at last year’s T20 World Cup. The World Cricketers’ Association says it is not an isolated incident and “reflects poorly on the whole sport”.
More can be done to protect cricketers
“In every other industry, failing to pay workers year after year would lead to serious consequences, but in cricket, it often goes unchecked. When players raise issues, they are also often subject to further poor treatment or penalised for doing so,” added Showler, a partner and head of international dispute resolution at the law firm Trowers and Hamlins.
“This issue persists because leagues that fail to pay players continue to receive national governing body sanctioning, and there are almost no protections for players within current sanctioning regulations. There is no transparent, independent or effective process for players to raise disputes, which enables this behaviour to persist without adequate accountability.”
The WCA says that the ICC has shown some appetite to pursue rogue national boards but the reality is that the governing body’s member-run structure can stymie reform. Showler believes that “more can be done” to clean up cricket’s governance, and has some practical suggestions for protecting money due to players.
“Protections for the players could include escrow account requirements to ensure all of the funds required to pay the players are paid in advance into an escrow account, payment guarantees, minimum contract standards and efficient dispute resolution and contract enforcement mechanisms,” he said.
Such issues are unlikely to affect The Hundred, the Big Bash or the Indian Premier League, nor Test cricketers at the top nations. But they are a reminder that while business is booming in some quarters, for others it is bust.