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CA increase BBL|05 prize pool

BBL clubs the big winners as prize money triples from last summer

Following the demise of the lucrative Champions League Twenty20 tournament, Cricket Australia has today announced an increased prize pool for the four finalists of this summer's KFC Big Bash League competition.

A total of $890,000, up from $290,000 last summer, will be split between fifth place ($20,000) the losing semi-finalists ($80,000 each), runners-up ($260,000) and winner, with the champions taking home the largest slice of the pie worth $450,000.

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The cash injection will not be shared directly among the players but they will benefit under their revenue sharing arrangement with Cricket Australia, which means a quarter of all Australian cricket income goes to the player payment pool.

The additional $600,000 will go to successful clubs and not their players, who will share the same prize money from last season.

The winning club will take home $300,000, the runners-up $200,000 and the semi-finalists $50,000 each, and while that is a huge amount, it pales in comparison to the financial windfall of taking out the now defunct CLT20.

When the Sydney Sixers won the CLT20 in 2012, the club received a $US2.5 million pay cheque which was split evenly between the playing roster and the club's state body.

And just qualifying for the tournament earned a cool $US250,000 for each team, a purse the Perth Scorchers have enjoyed in the last three tournaments despite failing to progress out of the group stage on each occasion.

"We have increased the prize pool that teams compete for this year in recognition of the strong competition that the league has developed into," Cricket Australia General Manager of Operations Mike McKenna said.

"We felt the clubs previously had an opportunity to earn added prize money through qualifying for the Champions League.

"With that tournament no longer taking place, we looked for a way to provide further incentive for all teams within the structure of our own competition.

"We think this is a big win for the clubs, giving them a chance to earn extra funds that can be re-invested in their community programs which attract new fans to the game."   

While the carrot of the Champions League no longer remains, there is no doubt each club will be vying for the title when the competition starts on Thursday with the Sydney Smash.

The Sydney Thunder, who are yet to beat cross-town rivals the Sixers, will be without Usman Khawaja after the batsman was ruled out as he continues to rehab an a strained hamstring he injured in the second Commonwealth Bank Test in Perth.