Australia captain Pat Cummins has strongly dismissed reports claiming leading Australian cricketers could abandon the Big Bash League (BBL) in favour of South Africa’s SA20 over widening payment disparities in global franchise cricket.
A report by The Age claimed that several senior Australian players, including Cummins, were considering seeking no-objection certificates (NOCs) from 2028 in order to prioritise the SA20 during the January window if Cricket Australia failed to improve player salaries in line with the rapidly growing T20 market.
The report suggested Australia’s premier multi-format stars are commanding close to $1 million in overseas franchise leagues, substantially higher than current BBL contracts, and warned that Cricket Australia could struggle to retain its biggest names if the pay gap continued to widen.
Cummins, however, publicly rubbished the claims and directly called out the report on social media.
“Everything you’ve written about me in this about SA20 NOC and The Hundred offer is made up,” Cummins wrote on X while replying to the journalist responsible for the report.
The story further claimed that fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc had been approached by England’s Hundred competition with offers worth around $800,000, underlining the increasing financial pull of franchise cricket outside Australia.
While Cummins rejected suggestions that he was preparing to walk away from the BBL, the broader debate around player payments and the future of Australian domestic T20 cricket has intensified in recent months.
According to the report, several senior players were unhappy with Cricket Australia’s initial contract offers, with negotiations centred around guaranteed payments, match fees, and greater flexibility regarding NOCs for overseas franchise leagues.
Australia chair of selectors George Bailey admitted there was “tension in the marketplace” as players weighed national commitments against lucrative opportunities abroad.
Bailey said the situation was not unusual at this stage of the contracting cycle, but acknowledged the frustration among Australia’s leading white-ball players over the growing gap between BBL salaries and overseas franchise deals.
The report also quoted Cummins as warning that while Australian players remained deeply committed to representing the national side, the financial realities of the global T20 market could eventually become impossible to ignore.
“Some of our guys are saying no to half a million pounds for 20 days’ work to go and play those two Test matches against Bangladesh,” Cummins had said.
“At the moment, our guys are so keen to play for Australia that they’re happy to forgo that, but I don’t think we can accept that that is going to be the case forever.”
Cricket Australia is understood to be considering several measures to strengthen the BBL’s position, including the possibility of scrapping the overseas draft system in order to redirect more money towards retaining local stars.
CA head of cricket James Allsopp also acknowledged the growing challenge posed by the rapid expansion of franchise leagues around the world, particularly in the white-ball format, as governing bodies attempt to balance international cricket with the financial power of the global T20 circuit.
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