David Warner weighs prospect of joining cash-rich rebel league which will change world cricket

Australia’s David Warner during the Test series against West Indies

Australia’s David Warner was the first high-profile international cricketer to publicly weigh the option of joining the rebel cricket league bankrolled by the Essel Group tycoon Subhash Chandra, predicting that the kind of money being talked about would be offers that cannot be refused, and that international cricket as we know it could be changed forever.

It had been previously reported that the likes of Warner and Australia captain Michael Clarke were in line for contracts worth $50 million over 10 years if they crossed over from ICC’s current format of world cricket.

"At the moment I'm contracted to Cricket Australia, the fact is I'm playing for Australia, it's what I do, it's what I love. But these guys are talking about big sums of money and, let's be honest, if people are saying to you that they don't play for the money then they're having a laugh. I think athletes in general have to be a bit more honest and say that's what's happening.”

Test cricket might not exist any longer: Warner

Billionaire Indian media mogul Subash Chandra’s Essel Group, which was behind the defunct breakaway league ICL, has confirmed plans to launch a new global Twenty20 tournament similar to Kerry Packer's creation of World Series Cricket in the 1970s. They have in recent months registered companies in Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, with names that give the appearance of being cricket boards.

Warner said, "This is a company that's coming in and trying to take over world cricket. At the end of the day if this company comes in and wipes out who you play for and you want to play cricket, what happens there? Who pays you?

“Ultimately we're working, but we love what we do. I cherish the baggy green and if Test cricket exists I'll continue to keep playing Test cricket, because from where I've started to where I am now, I love that and I'll keep cherishing that.

“But the simple thing is if the rebel league comes and takes off, I don't there is going to be Test cricket. How are we going to play every other Test nation when some of those nations are definitely going to go on board. I can't talk on their behalf, but if you weigh the numbers up I think what they're talking about sum-wise it's going to be hard for a lot of the minnow countries to say no.”

Interesting times for cricket: Warner

While Warner sounds optimistic of the way the rebel league will affect world cricket, his country’s cricket board are trying their best to hold on to their existing players and the existing system of governance. Cricket Australia has offered many of their players the security of multi-year national contracts, which the players are yet to sign – the expiry date of the existing contracts being June 30.

Warner said, “Cricket's in a great position at the moment. It's interesting times ahead and I think at the moment the players have got a lot to think about and a lot to weigh up."

"We are aware of the reports around a rebel league and they remain highly speculative, particularly given the proposed scale and complexity," CA had said on the matter.

“Our pay structure is broader than the prospective league’s. It's about supporting professional cricket at both international and domestic level. The success of international cricket directly subsidises the wages of state cricketers. Any proposed rebel league would jeopardise that.”