‘Open mind’: The plan to let English cricketers play in the Sheffield Shield

Adelaide: Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg has revealed he is open to finding ways for England players to play in future Sheffield Shield seasons to help provide a better grounding in Australian conditions for Ashes combatants.

Ben Stokes’ touring team slipped to a 2-0 Ashes series deficit within six days of play in Perth and Brisbane, leaving the tourists in real danger of giving up the urn in Adelaide this week in the minimum three Test matches required.

After this masthead reported that England’s planners had rejected the offer of a tour game against Australia A on a major ground like the MCG in the lead-up to the Perth Test, Greenberg said he had spoken at length with his ECB equivalent Richard Gould about ensuring more thorough preparation for future tours.

But Greenberg also added that he was willing to explore the prospect of England players taking part in the Shield competition, which has seldom seen foreign players in recent seasons. England last won an Ashes Test match in Australia in January 2011.

“History says it’s been done before. I think we have to have an open mind to it,” Greenberg said on Wednesday. “As the global world changes for cricket, this concept that we lock down our own paths and our own systems without some sort of broader knowledge of what’s happening around you [is wrong]. So I’d have an open mind to that.

“I was with Richard Gould for those first two Tests, we started talking about the next Ashes series and he started to talk to me about what our expectations might be and what our desires and wants are, what we’ve got before and after it. There’s a spirit of dialogue that we would work together on that, and vice versa, that we can help him out.”

Overseas players largely disappeared from the Shield after the advent of the Big Bash League in 2011 meant that the domestic first-class competition was essentially fixed as a research and development league for the Australian Test team.

In earlier decades the likes of Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Joel Garner, Gary Sobers and Barry Richards took part in the Shield. Younis Khan and Andy Flower both played seasons for South Australia in the 2000s.

The most recent English player to turn out in the Shield was the leg spinner Mason Crane, who played one game for NSW in 2017, taking five wickets against South Australia, and subsequently touring Australia with England the following season.

Greenberg also spoke about the financial squabbles that are making any prospective sale of Big Bash League clubs a long and messy process. The CA and state chief executives were locked in a meeting around possible sale terms for several hours on Tuesday, but any move towards an actual sale won’t happen until next year.

“We’ve agreed to pursue the opportunity, but if we pursue the opportunity we have to get a whole pile of things agreed to by the states if we’re actually going to go into a process for sale, and we haven’t got to that point yet,” he said. “If you’re going to raise this level of capital, the first question is where does all the money go.

“I’ve said to the group I can’t go back 15 years in history and try to understand why there were two teams in the big states and why there’s only one in the others. I think I know the reason. But I can’t undo that.

“At the end of it, people will feel like it’s unfair or not quite balanced, and in any really good negotiation, everybody is going to walk away slightly unhappy. That’s what I’m aiming for, that everyone feels like they didn’t quite get what they want but we’re in the deal, and that’s hard.”

Greenberg also acknowledged that the player pay deal with the Australian Cricketers Association was likely to be renegotiated in the event of clubs being sold and more revenue raised. In particular, the value of top national contracts is set to increase – captain Pat Cummins is still on similar money to that earned by Michael Clarke a decade ago.

“The shape of the player payment pool and who is getting what inside the player payment pool is up for negotiation too,” Greenberg said. “The difference with [Cummins] and Michael Clarke is there’s significant spoils to be made elsewhere, and the flexibility we try to provide players so they can earn additional income all over the world.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that, but the short answer is we’ve got to make sure the shape of where the player payments go are to the right areas, and that’s a balance.”

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