Australia captain Pat Cummins shuts down reports linking him away from home summer to play in SA20

Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: ICC)

Australia captain Pat Cummins has silenced reports suggesting that he, along with other senior players are looking to skip their own Big Bash League to compete in South Africa’s SA20 from 2028 if their salaries are not increased.

According to reports from The Age, a host of Australian players were considering asking Cricket Australia for No Objection Certificates (NOC) to play in the SA20 if they were not assured of what they consider to be fair value for their services, which are said to be AUD 1 million to compete in the Big Bash League.

The same report also claimed that Australia’s fast-bowling trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were also offered AUD 800,000 each as pre-auction signing fees to compete in The Hundred 2026. However, doing so would have stopped them from playing for their national team in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

These reports, however, have been crushed by Cummins, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to spill the beans over the fake rumours.

Australia’s best cricketers may quit the home summer to play in the lucrative South African Twenty20 tournament in January 2028 unless they can be paid salaries of about $1 million each to take part in the Big Bash League https://t.co/Vh5hrBjeay

— Daniel Brettig 🏏 (@danbrettig) May 13, 2026

There have been a lot of talks in the media surrounding Australian players and their tussle with Cricket Australia over various aspects, including central contracts. Earlier this month, Australia’s current chair of selectors, George Bailey, came out to clear the air surrounding a host of players rejecting CA’s initial central contract offer. The former player downplayed the situation, claiming that it is only natural and common for these things to happen during the early stages of the negotiation.

Australia will soon return to international cricket with a three-match ODI series against Pakistan, commencing in two weeks. The first game of the series will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Ground on May 30, with Mitchell Marsh set to take over the captaincy in the absence of Cummins.