Tim Paine dropped from domestic contracts in Tasmania

Former Australia captain Tim Paine has been denied a new state contract for the 2022-23 season, placing more doubt on the 37-year-playing old’s career.

Paine hasn’t played since resigning as Australia captain in 2017 following an off-field scandal in which he sent sexually explicit texts to a female coworker at Cricket Tasmania.

Following that, he took a mental health leave, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever return to competitive cricket.

In other news, the Women’s National Cricket League will add four extra rounds to the league next summer, giving it a full home and away structure.

In addition to the 14 games they play in the Women’s Big Bash League, each side will now play 12 games. Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) inked a new 12-month memorandum of understanding.

According to the CA, each female player will now receive an extra $7,000 as a result of the league’s growth, and the average compensation for female domestic players who play both forms is now $86k (exclusive of superannuation, prize money, ACRA and a share of the Adjustment Ledger).

“Our female players are excellent role models, and a full home and away WNCL season is a sensible move as we continue to focus on boosting the participation of women and girls in cricket,” said CA CEO Nick Hockley.

“What we have agreed to for the next twelve months provides our female players with more opportunity to play and better remuneration as a result,” ACA CEO Todd Greenberg said.

The players will “continue to receive 27.5 percent of anticipated ACR with a Performance Pool of 2.5 percent,” according to the new MoU, which covers both male and female players.

Retainers and match payments for players have increased by 1% across all playing categories.

“As we worked through the talks, it became evident that the game benefits of this collaboration model were readily recognized,” Greenberg added.

“It has served Australian cricket well in responding to the implications of COVID, where player payments and benefits self-adjusted as the game’s income changed, avoiding the difficult re-negotiations faced by other sports,” says the report.

The players have also agreed to provide Cricket Australia $4 million “to assist in managing the ongoing implications of COVID,” which will be used to cover the price of bio-secure surroundings.

“At a time when many sports are grappling with the effects of COVID, the partnership approach has produced a fantastic result for Australian cricket and its players,” Greenberg said.