Rich pickings for South African team

The South African players have pocketed hefty win bonuses for their efforts in Australia. Tony Irish, chief executive of the South Africa Cricketers' Association, told Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Sondag that the one-day team earned a bonus of 550,000 rand (approximately US$53,000) for the 4-1 series victory, with each team member taking home R12,000 (US$1,100) each for every game won. The Test team received around R1,000,000 (US$97,000) for the 2-1 series triumph, with the players picking up R27,000 (US$2,600) each.

It was a double whammy for the likes of Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and Neil McKenzie, who featured in both squads, and according to calculations based on the above figures, will bag around US$16,600 each.

The bonuses are also expected to become fatter in the years to come because the success in Australia is likely to increase Cricket South Africa's (CSA's) income from cricket. And considering the memorandum of understanding in place between the board and its players, which makes the players partners in CSA and allows them to take a slice of the profits brought in through international competition, the cash flows may just have begun.

Irish said he expected massive interest in South Africa for the return Test and ODI series against Australia. "There are already early signs that the interest has increased drastically among our commercial partners when it comes to tickets for Test matches."

Australia will be playing three Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and five ODIs on the tour scheduled between February 26 and April 17.