The rapidity with which cricket has shifted toward professional status in Australia was underscored today when the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) foreshadowed the imminent emergence of the sport's first millionaire player.

ACB Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed revealed in Melbourne today that, under the terms of a new four-year deal his Board had negotiated with the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), the nation's top players are set to receive a significant boost in overall income.

The Board's new Memorandum of Understanding with the ACA - the body established in 1995 to act as the collective voice of Australia's first-class cricketers - ensures that players will receive the increases in line with the sharp rise in overall Australian cricket revenue during recent summers.

Speed announced that the total of that revenue had increased by fifty per cent over the past four years and that it will reach a level of $A85 million for 2001-02. That figure is projected to rise again to around $109 million in 2003-04.

The underlying principle of the agreement, which replaces the first MoU signed between the two parties in September 1998, remains that Australia's cricketers will be paid a set percentage of the total revenue produced by the ACB and state associations. Relative to the previous deal, that percentage has also risen.

Three years ago, national and state players were guaranteed an entitlement to 20 per cent of the first $60 million of revenue accrued annually, and to 25 per cent of the remainder. That figure now reverts to a flat rate of 25 per cent for all revenue derived. This money is then divided between all contracted state players and the twenty-five ACB-contracted players, with fifty-five per cent allocated to the latter group.

An additional feature of the new compact is the introduction of specialised rookie contracts, which will provide the six state teams with the opportunity to offer retainers of $10,000 to five previously unsigned players under the age of 23.

The ACB confirmed that, on current figures, the changes would result in an indexed increase of three per cent - or $3 million - in the general size of the player pool.

Under the revised arrangements, it is anticipated that the highest paid Australian player will be receiving an annual wage of more than $1 million within the space of three years.

Over the course of the last year, the nation's most lucrative individual contract was worth $625,000 and that amount is expected to hit $832,000 in 2001-02.

Speed declined to comment on the identity of the player holding that contract or to speculate on who might be in line to become the first Australian to receive a seven figure sum.

In making the announcement with ACA president Tim May, Speed stated that the new pay deal offered the game's administrators the opportunity to make cricket a viable career for current and aspiring players.

"One of the important messages here is that the game can afford to pay this money to put in place those infrastructures," he said.

"The finances that underpin the game have grown considerably and this will continue through the long term commercial agreements, particularly in the area of overseas media rights and sponsorship that the ACB has been able to negotiate.

"What we've sought to do in this agreement is to put together a very healthy career path for young athletes coming into the game of cricket."

Among the state players, the highest amount paid to an individual last summer was $89,000 and that is expected to rise to the level of $140,000 within a further four years.

In overall terms, it's the sort of outcome that did not look remotely possible only three years ago when negotiations between the two bodies broke down repeatedly. Back then, the threat of formal strike action by the national team loomed as a genuine possibility and talks remained deadlocked for several months.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd