Queensland restructure as state feels coronavirus bite

Queensland Cricket has cut almost a third of its workforce, becoming the latest state association to take drastic action in response to the sport's financial crisis.

The Queensland governing body has confirmed a restructure will wipe out the equivalent of 32 full-time jobs, equating to about 29 per cent of its staff. The association's high-performance department will account for the biggest reduction.

Men's coach Wade Seccombe and women's mentor Ashley Noffke will become head of male and female performance respectively, taking on a bigger workload as part of the restructure and now having oversight of all activities of the state teams and the Queensland Cricket pathway.

Andy Bichel and James Hopes have retained their positions as Seccombe's assistants with the Queensland Bulls, and Scott Prestwidge will assist Noffke for the Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat WBBL teams.

Darren Lehmann continues as the Heat's BBL head coach, with the club's operations streamlined under Queensland Cricket's General Manager of Performance, Pathways, Coaching and Community Cricket, Bennett King.

The Heat have confirmed eight spots on the 18-man roster for BBL|10, including England's Tom Banton, while early discussions have been held with AB de Villiers about a return to the club.

The Queensland state players are expected to formally report back for training next Monday while some have already been doing informal one-on-one coaching drills. 

Cricket Victoria recently cut 36 per cent of its workforce, while the South Australian Cricket Association and Cricket Tasmania also announced job losses amid the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A majority of Cricket Australia staff have been stood down for the rest of the financial year as part of chief executive Kevin Roberts' cost-cutting mission, with an expectation that some redundancies are inevitable.

CA, having initially pushed to cut states' funding by 45 per cent amid fears head office will run out of money in August, is seeking to reduce grants by 25 per cent.

Queensland Cricket and Cricket NSW remain the only states yet to sign off on the new arrangement, with Western Australia's agreement conditional on all other states also agreeing, but Queensland noted in Monday's statement there had been an "acceptance of the inevitable 25 per cent decrease in grants from the national body".

Coupled with an imminent reduction in ticket sales for 2020-21, Queensland Cricket chief executive Terry Svenson suggested his organisation realised it needed to "act now".

"This has been an extremely challenging time and our thoughts are foremost with our employees, who have no doubt been living with a high level of uncertainty and anxiety," Svenson said in a statement.

"A lot of difficult decisions have been made and we continue to offer support for those employees whose roles have been made redundant.

"In some cases, we have offered employees the opportunity to take on cross-role responsibilities in talent identification, coaching and club support.

"Cricket is still focused on promoting our sport to women and girls and we remain well-resourced in the areas of female talent specialists and high performance. As part of our new structure, QC will contract a Head Selector for Female Cricket for the first time."

Roberts is confident India will arrive for this summer's Test series, which will deliver a boost of $300 million in broadcast revenue, but has warned that tour is no panacea for the various financial woes created by COVID-19.

A breakthrough in talks between CA and the players' union means states will soon release their contract lists, with players in the process of returning to pre-season training across Australia.