Holland strikes it rich on tour
The Age
Thursday February 18, 2010
THE wash-out of November's final one-day match between Australia and India in Mumbai denied promising spinner Jon Holland his national team debut. While the 22-year-old was the only member of the original squad not to play on the three-week tour, the snub was cushioned by an estimated tripling of his base wage.Taking into account match payments and elevation to a Cricket Australia contract, Holland would have increased his salary by upwards of $150,000, despite not playing for his country.Holland is among five players €” Adam Voges, Tim Paine, Clint McKay and Ryan Harris are the others €” to have been automatically upgraded from their state association contract to a full Cricket Australia contract since last July, based on appearances for the national team.While state players have a base contract of between $48,000 and $130,000, the minimum CA contract is $190,000. Once a state player reaches 12 match points they immediately get a national contract, with CA paying the gap between their state contract and the $190,000.The upgrading rules are part of the employment agreement between the CA and the Australian Cricketers Association. Players are allocated five points for participating in a Test match, two for a one-day international and one for a Twenty20 international €” even if they are 12th man. For overseas tours, however, any uncontracted player on the tour is allocated points for every match Australia plays.Even though the seventh one-day match in India did not go ahead the fact there were six matches beforehand ensured that Holland finished the tour with 12 points, enough for qualification. Considering Holland was a Bushrangers rookie last season and only received his first senior state contract in July, he would likely have been in the bottom half of Victoria's contract list, which meant the CA contract might have tripled his salary.The upgrade system is intended to allow Cricket Australia to easily cope with heavy playing schedules for the national team and overcome the loss of contracted players to long-term injuries, as has occurred with Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken and Callum Ferguson this year. The addition of five players this year is not large, with 11 players upgraded in 2008-09.Voges is the only one of the five upgraded players to have had a CA contract previously, so the pay increase for him would not be as extreme as it would be for Paine and McKay (Harris has an Indian Premier League contract).Players also get match payments on top of their contracts: $13,250 a Test, $5300 a one-day international and $3975 a Twenty20 international. McKay was only called up to the Australian team in late October but has already earned more than $50,000 in match payments, while Paine has amassed match payments of more than $90,000, primarily from the 17 one-day games he has played in place of the injured Brad Haddin and Graeme Manou.The only other players seemingly capable of a CA contract upgrade this year are Twenty20 specialists David Warner and Dirk Nannes. Both have four points each and, provided they play in every Twenty20 international, will reach 10 points after the first round of the World Twenty20 in April. If the team qualifies for the next round and Warner and Nannes hold their spots the pair will also get the upgrade and the full financial boost from it, despite the Twenty20 tournament finishing only seven weeks before the start of the new contract period.NSW all-rounder Steve Smith only has one point but has come into contention for an upgrade as a result of his inclusion for tomorrow night's one-day match against the West Indies. An upgrade would be all but assured if he is selected for the Test tour of New Zealand.Only two of the 25 players given CA contracts in the middle of last year have not played for the national team since: Victorian pair Brad Hodge and Andrew McDonald (although the latter toured England and India with the team).
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