Australian players are prepared to take pay cut for cricket's survival, reveals Tim Paine

Australian cricketers might have to accept a pay cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cricket Australia is preparing for the possibility of a severely-affected cricketing season for the national team. Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine insisted that making financial sacrifices is a small thing in the current situation and they are prepared to do their bit. Paine added that certainly if they face pay cuts then they’ve certainly got to do their bit to make sure the game survives and remains really healthy for years to come.

“Certainly discussions will start happening in the next week or so. Certainly if things happen similar to what’s happened to football and other sports, then we’ve certainly got to do our bit to make sure the game survives and remains really healthy for years to come.” 

“If it comes to that, I’m sure that’s something that the players will look at. But there are bigger issues going on around the world at the moment than how much our sportsmen are going to get paid. That’ll be a small thing to us if that was to happen,” expressed Paine, reported Hindustan Times.

If Australia’s side would have managed a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh in June Australia could have overtaken India in the World Test Championship ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series. But with the coronavirus outbreak forcing a cricket shutdown, the Bangladesh tour is now unlikely to go ahead.