As reported by The Age, Australia’s leading cricketers plan to skip the home summer to play in South Africa’s franchise T20 tournament, SA20, in 2028. They intend to ask Cricket Australia (CA) for competitive salaries around $1 million each for participating in the BBL. If their request is not met, they may seek no-objection certificates to join the SA20.
The report mentions that players like Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc were offered about $800,000 each to play in The Hundred 2026. However, they declined the offers due to their commitments for the Test series against Bangladesh in August.
Previously, Cummins expressed concerns that players might lose interest in representing Australia, given the lucrative opportunities in global franchise leagues, during the Business in Sport Podcast.
CA considering changes to BBL overseas player draft
Top Australian players are being offered nearly $1 million for major franchise tournaments, significantly more than what the BBL has provided. To ensure they receive fair market rates, CA is planning to eliminate the overseas player draft in the BBL.
James Allsopp, CA’s head of cricket, emphasized the need to support multi-format players who add considerable commercial value to the sport.
“Our main focuses are ensuring that multi-format players, who contribute to both commercial and performance value for the team, are well cared for, while also supporting our specialist white-ball players,” Allsopp stated according to The Age.
Allsopp is concerned that the franchise market may lure top players away from International cricket, posing a risk to the future of Australian cricket.
“These players are in high demand. Now, they can join the franchise circuit and earn well outside of Australian cricket or the BBL, which isn’t in the best interest of Australian cricket,” he noted.