All forms of international and domestic cricket have been on hiatus since March due to the Coronavirus pandemic across the globe. No wonder, cricket boards are facing the financial crisis.
The situation is so grim that 40 staff at Cricket Australia have lost their jobs including batting coach Graeme Hick, reported The Australian.
Hick’s sacking came just a day after CA chief executive Kevin Roberts resigned from his position.
The organisation announced cost reductions it claims will save about $40m from the 2020-21 budget and spoke of “an increasingly optimistic national outlook”.
“Throughout COVID-19, the need to work closely with the cricket community and to move quickly as circumstances have changed has never been more important,” chairman Earl Eddings said in a statement on June 17.
“With increasing clarity about the impact of COVID-19, we have managed the financial impact on our organisation, our people, our partners and players. There will still be painful decisions for some parts of our organisation, but we have worked hard to carefully develop plans to protect our investment in community cricket and high-performance cricket, while ensuring the game’s financial sustainability.
“We recognise that this is a difficult time for Cricket Australia employees, particularly for those staff members affected by these redundancies and their families. However, our responsibility is clear: to navigate a path for cricket through this period of uncertainty and disruption to ensure we come out the other side sustainable in the short term and prosperous in the long term.”
Although Eddings refused to disclose who had lost their jobs from the coaching set-up, The Australian claims that Hick and physiotherapist Kevin Sims will not continue with the men’s side.
Hick, who played 65 Tests and 120 ODIs for England, has been a batting coach with the team for almost seven years. He commands respect as many Australia batsmen have improved by leaps and bounds under his guidance.
Andrew McDonald, who was appointed assistant coach last year, will have to take greater responsibility after Hick’s removal.
(Inputs from The Australian)
