Former Australian leg-spin bowler Stuart MacGill has begun legal action against Cricket Australia (CA), suing his former employers for more than A$2.5mn ($2.05mn) over lost earnings.
AFP/Melbourne
Retired bowler Stuart MacGill is suing Cricket Australia claiming he is owed Aus$2.6mn dollars (US$2.1mn) in match payments, prize money and interest.
Lawyers for the spinner, who retired from international cricket in 2008 with 208 Test wickets at an average of 29.02, filed the details in a writ in the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday.
It alleges that Cricket Australia failed or neglected to pay MacGill injury payments for 104 weeks from May 2008 when he “ceased being able to perform his obligations under the CAPC (Cricket Australia Player Contract) due to injury”.
MacGill is seeking Aus$1,640,890 in payments, including for 15 away Test matches and 11 home Tests, his annual retainer and prize money. He is also seeking Aus$984,534 in interest.
“We are aware of the media reports and at this stage we’re not in a position to comment further,” a spokesman for Cricket Australia told AFP.
MacGill, who played 44 Tests, suffered a string of injuries as a player before his career ended abruptly in May 2008.
The writ states that MacGill had one-year contracts with Cricket Australia from 1998 to 2007 and claims that in June 2007 the organisation had hired him for another year and offered him a contract for 2008 to 2009.
It says that when MacGill had been injured and unable to play on previous occasions up until 2006 - suffering an ankle fracture, broken nose, displaced discs in his spine, knee cartilage damage, nerve damage in his hands and wrists, an elbow fracture and other injuries—Cricket Australia had continued to pay him.
But in May 2008 he spoke to the Australia team manager and the captain while on tour in the West Indies about numbness and pins and needles in both hands, knee and shoulder pain and was advised to return to Australia.
“The team medical officer was not available to be consulted by MacGill or notified during the Test match as he was not in attendance due to his own personal illness,” the writ said.
MacGill says in the writ that when he failed to receive payments on returning home, the Australian Cricketer’s Association had entered into negotiations with Cricket Australia on his behalf but the sporting body denied liability and refused further dispute resolution.