James Faulkner banned from PSL

The James Faulkner and PSL Payment Row

On the 19th of February 2022, It was reported that former Australian all-rounder James Faulkner had left the PSL abruptly citing a payment dispute with the  Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) authorities.

Faulkner had alleged that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had not honoured his payments as per the player’s contract and apparently had continued to lie to him and had not paid him on time.

Faulkner did not play the last 3 games for his PSL side – Quetta Gladiators, and as he was getting increasingly agitated on the payment matter, he threatened the PCB and PSL authorities that he will not take part in his team’s crucial match against Multan Sultans which was to be played on Friday afternoon on the 18th of February 2022 until the PCB met his demands of the money transfer.

What was the Payment dispute between James Faulkner and PCB?

According to the PCB/Quetta Gladiators joint statement released on 19th February 2022 – Here is a short timeline of events which transpired between James Faulkner and PCB from December 2021 till February 2022.

  • In December 2021, James Faulkner’s agent had sent an UK offshore bank account details to PCB for the PSL payment to be transferred which was duly acknowledged by PCB.
  • In January 2022, James Faulkner’s agent sent revised bank account details of James Faulkner’s onshore bank account based in Australia and requested for PSL payment to be transferred to this onshore account in Australia. But, as the contracted 70% of payment was already released and transferred to Faulkner’s offshore UK bank account, the PCB requested receipt of this payment which was duly acknowledged by Faulkner.
  • As per the PCB, all payments due to James Faulkner as per his PSL contract were fully up to date.
  • The other remaining contracted 30% of payment was due 40 days after the completion of the PSL 2022 season and this clause remains to be reviewed in line with his current contract as per the PCBs latest statement.
  • The real controversy started when despite acknowledging the payment received in his UK’s offshore bank account, James Faulkner insisted that a second duplicate payment of the same amount (70% as per his contract) to be transferred to his onshore account in Australia which according to PCB would had meant that Faulkner would had been paid twice and this is the main point in which PCB authorities got into a discussion to resolve with Faulkner.

Faulkner starts irresponsible behaviour

According to PCB, they were in a discussion with Faulkner to attempt and resolve this matter on 18th February – Friday afternoon but alas, Faulkner displayed anger and resorted to an insulting behaviour and despite continued assurances that his grievances will be addressed, He refused to participate in the crucial match of his side Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans on Friday, which was a big setback for his team at the last minute and he demanded his travel arrangements should be made as soon as possible as he wanted to leave for Australia immediately. During this discussion, PCB also got in touch with Faulkner’s agent who on the contrary compared to Faulkner was actually regretful and apologetic of Mr Faulkner’s behaviour.  

Not many fans of Cricket or James Faulkner or players who play real money pokies could have predicted what Faulkner did the very next day on Saturday – 19th February 2022.

Prior to his departure to Australia on Saturday Morning, Faulkner got frustrated and threw his bat and helmet from a top floor of the hotel where he was staying and this bat and helmet got stuck in a beautiful chandelier on the hotel’s roof which caused considerable damage to the hotel’s property. According to media reports, Faulkner did pay for these damages to the hotel before leaving for the airport.

 faulkner helmet and bat stuck in chandelier in Pakistan hotel

The drama did not end here because as per the official statement released by PCB/Quetta Gladiators, Faulkner also misbehaved and acted inappropriately and abused the local immigration authorities at the airport.

As a result of which PCB and PSL franchises unanimously decided that James Faulkner will be banned from playing in PSL tournaments for life and will also not be included in any future drafts of PSL events.

Faulkner vented about this alleged dispute via his official twitter account – tweets below apologising to Pakistan Cricket fans and alleging that PCB and PSL authorities did not honour the payment terms.

To PCB’s defence, Former Pakistan captain and star player Shahid Afridi defended PCB by stating in a tweet that never had PCB/PSL delayed on any payments and no one should be allowed to taint the PCB/PSL brand and Pakistan Cricket.

What a sad end of the PSL career for a player who was Australia’s Man of the Match in the 50 over 2015 World Cup Final victory over New Zealand in Melbourne.

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