Cricket Australia has said that the possibility of potential limited-overs series against Zimbabwe in August was made known to players and agents even before they enrolled their names for The Hundred draft.
The body sought to clear the air after James Erskine, a sports agent who represents David Warner, told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald that the left-handed opener might honour his commitment with Southern Brave in the inaugural edition of The Hundred instead of making himself available for the limited-overs series.
The agent claimed that at the time of enrolling themselves for the lucrative competition, Australian players were not informed of a potential scheduling clash with an international tournament.
Australian players were some of the top picks in #TheHundred draft, but international scheduling threatens to keep them from playing all or part of the tournament.https://t.co/hgUsft6d6b
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 9, 2020
In light of those claims, Cricket Australia released an email from Peter Roach, the operations manager, advising players and agents that there will be an ODI series in early August 2020. The email was dated August 5, well before the draft, which was conducted on October 20.
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The message, as published by Sydney Morning Herald, reads as follows:
“We have received some correspondence from the ECB re its’s new “The Hundred” competition. The first competition will run from 17 July to 16 August 2020, and include eight men’s and eight women’s teams.
“Players will be expected to report for duty from 12 July 2020. All player will require an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from CA to compete which will, as normal, be subject to fitness and the player not being required for international duty.
“For further information, the Australian men’s T20 and ODI teams will be playing matches in England just prior to The Hundred, and the ODI team also has an existing FTP commitment of 3 matches in early August in Australia versus Zimbabwe. The Australian women’s team has no planned activity at this point during The Hundred.”
Jofra Archer, David Warner and Andre Russell will join forces for the Southern Brave in The Hundred.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/hjCkApLEHW
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 20, 2019
Warner was one of four Australians to land top-bracket deals in The Hundred, which is slated to run from July 17 to August 15 this year. Erskine suggested that players might pressure Cricket Australia to change the dates for the Zimbabwe series.
“There was no cricket on at the time. Cricket Australia can’t basically schedule retrospectively against the Hundred. There are lots of Australians who have made commitments to the Hundred. My gut feeling is they [players] will all turn around and say: ‘Find some other dates’,” Erskine was quoted as saying.
