A staggering $1.4m paid to South African wunderkind Dewald Brevis to play in the SA20 in January has put Big Bash contracts in the shade and hit Cricket Australia claims that it has the second biggest tournament outside the IPL for six.
Brevis blasted his way to the biggest-ever T20 score by a South African in the recent series against Australia when he plundered 125 not out off just 56 balls in Darwin.
He’s now also the holder of the highest price ever paid for a player in the SA20 after the Pretoria Capitals, an arm of the Delhi Capitals, forked out the huge sum to the 22-year-old for the upcoming tournament.
The $1.4m the Capitals paid is nearly half the entire $3m salary cap available to each Big Bash franchise.
The salary cap for each team in SA20 is only $3.5m, but they are also allowed to sign one “wildcard” player who sits outside the cap, which is where Brevis’ deal lies.
Brevis was one of two players to earn contracts in excess of $1m, with Proteas T20 captain, Aiden Markram, also picking up a $1.2m deal from the Durban Super Giants.
The huge payouts for the SA20, which is heavily backed by the IPL and run by former South African Test captain Graeme Smith, dwarf most deals for international players in the Big Bash, which top out at about $600,000.
Cricket Australia is believed to be looking at potential private investment in Big Bash franchises that could help grow the tournament.
CA boss Todd Greenberg said it was their stated aim to ensure the Big Bash was “sitting just beside or behind or adjacent to the IPL”.
“It’s going to be very hard to chase the IPL, given the scale of cricket in India, but unashamedly, we want to run a league that comes second,” he said.
“And to do that we’re going to need to make sure that player availability and player salaries are commensurate with everything else that goes on around the world, and there’s one thing you need for that, you need money, you need investment.
“We’d be naive if we weren’t asking ourselves these questions and making sure we’ve got an eye on what’s next.”
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au