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Perry, Lanning, Healy miss IPL payday

Cricket Australia informed the players that the BCCI would not reverse its decision to omit the trio from the exhibition matches scheduled for next month

Daniel Brettig and Melinda Farrell
29-Apr-2019
Getty Images

Getty Images

Australia's best female cricketers Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry have missed out on an IPL payday after Cricket Australia formally informed them that the BCCI would not reverse its decision to omit the trio from the exhibition tournament to be held in India next month*.
The women can expect to earn in the region of A$11,000 and average retainers a little more than A$20,000 for a full home-and-away tournament of 14 matches plus finals in the 2019-20 Women's Big Bash League - the world's premier Twenty20 competition - but they would've expected to earn a significant amount for just three days' work at the IPL.
Lanning, Healy and Perry remained hopeful of a compromise over the four days since the BCCI announced IPL exhibition squads devoid of Australian players on April 25, but were finally told the bad news by interim team performance chief Belinda Clark on Monday and are understood to be highly frustrated by the turn of events.
CA had been acting as a collective agent on behalf of the players and, as revealed by ESPNcricinfo, Clark had told the BCCI on April 5 that their availability would only be confirmed after talks between the CA chief executive Kevin Roberts and his BCCI opposite number Rahul Johri resolved a parallel scheduling conflict over an Australian ODI tour of India in January.
CA has denied using the players' availability as a bargaining chip in negotiations over the men's ODI series, but on Monday issued a public apology for how a "communication breakdown" had cost Perry, Lanning and Healy.
"We have always been supportive of the Women's IPL and had every intention of participating," a CA spokesperson said. "We are also very keen to ensure a strong working relationship with the BCCI.
"While we are in regular contact with the BCCI, there has clearly been a communication breakdown on this occasion and the women have been impacted as a result. We're sorry this has happened and are determined to ensure our relationship with India remains open and collaborative to avoid future such incidents."
Roberts and the CA chairman Earl Eddings are expected to visit India next month as part of their efforts to improve a relationship with the BCCI that has broken down to the visible cost of Perry, Lanning and Healy, as well as CA's broadcast rights holders Fox Sports.
The pay television operator paid the majority share of a AU $1.18 billion rights deal last year, largely for exclusive coverage of men's ODI and T20I cricket in Australia and are now facing a 2019-20 schedule devoid of the former.
This is not the first time Australia's elite women have been embroiled in wider negotiations.
During the most recent, and often hostile, bargaining between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association over the players' Memorandum of Understanding, the Australian women's team were left out of contract at the conclusion of their 2017 World Cup campaign, along with domestic players who were on semi-professional contracts.
At the time, both CA and the ACA made tempting financial offers in their proposals. The players chose to keep solidarity with the ACA, increasing pressure on CA to make a deal.
* 2000 GMT, April 29: The story had carried inaccurate figures earlier, they have been removed and the story has been amended as a result