CA allows Aus T20 League clubs to sign players outside their salary cap

Cricket Australia will now allow Aus T20 League franchises to sign nationally-contracted players beyond their salary cap. This new rule came as a precautionary measure to avoid the Steven Smith fiascos of the past two seasons. 

As per the new rules unveiled by CA- Players will have the provision to sign with individual clubs on a marquee supplementary list if they are not expected to be available to compete. 

If the player’s circumstances change, they will then be able to be brought into the Aus T20 League’s club full time roster to feature in matches. The rules come as part of a draft of contracting changes for the men’s and women’s Aus T20 League, incorporating the introduction of an overseas player draft in the Women Aus T20 League in the same framework as the men’s tournament. 

The highest paid foreign men’s player will command AU$420,000 in the draft, while the female equivalents will gather AU$110,000 in a huge boost to the pulling power of the competitions. 

The top six male earner’s of each side will get a minimum of AU$200,000 by their respective franchise and top five female players AU$50,000 each. But the biggest change will come with nationally contracted men’s stars. 

Clubs will be able to contract as many they want inside the AU$3 million salary cap for their  18-man roster, as well as two more players outside of the cap. Those players would be on a systematised AU$50,000 deal. 

If they end up playing, only then will their AU$50,000 deal and AU$30,000 matches fees count to the cap. If unforeseen circumstances pose a threat on the player’s availability, CA will also allow franchises to bring money out of the following season’s cap to fit them in. 

That would most likely be activated only for any player who has been dropped from Australian duties, or if international fixtures were rescheduled. The new rule would cover both of the Smith cases in the last two years, where Covid-19 resulted in the cancellation of a series in early 2022 and home ODIs earlier this year. 

Smith was unable to compete for Sydney in 2021-22 as he was not signed with them, while he and David Warner were given marketing contracts last summer to play for the Sixers and Thunder respectively. 

The likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will now be aligned with clubs and appear in marketing material, with the speedsters usually sitting out the Aus T20 League to manage workloads. 

CA will be hoping the new changes open the door for more big name talent playing, while giving clubs the luxury to not have roster sports and notable cap space taken up by absentees with Test in January this summer. 

It's always our ambition for as many of those players to be part of the Aus T20 League as possible,"  Aus T20 League boss Alistair Dobson said. "We hope that the mechanisms will enable clubs to sign players even if they are either unlikely or not available. Because having them around the Aus T20 League and ready if available, is a really important part of the competition for us."