5 Cricketers Who Went From Riches To Rags

Cricket is one of the most financially rewarding sports in the world. However, the situation differs from country to country. While cricketers from top countries like India, Australia, and England earn a lot of money from the sport, the players from poor countries are not so lucky to earn handsome bucks. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world, which allows it to give attractive salaries to Indian players.

BCCI also conducts IPL tournaments, in which strong players from foreign countries also manage to earn a lot of money from lucrative IPL contracts. While a lot of players become rich after their successful cricket career, there are also some players who struggled financially after bidding goodbye to the sport. Here we look at 5 cricketers who went from riches to rags.

5 Cricketers Who Went From Riches To Rags

Janardan Navle

Janardan Navle was one of the oldest cricketers of India who played for the country before independence. Navle was a wicketkeeper-batsman. He was part of the Indian team that played its first-ever Test match against England. Navle made his debut in the Test match against England on June 25, 1932, at Lord’s.

He played 2 Test and 65 First-Class matches. In his later life, he struggled financially. He worked as a security guard in a sugar mill in Pune, Maharashtra, and lived in a two-room flat struggling to meet daily needs. He died in 1979.

Adam Hollioake

Adam Hollioake is a former English player who played for England national team and Surrey. He made his Test debut in August 1997 against Australia and his ODI debut in August 1996 against Pakistan. He also led the England team in 14 ODI matches. Hollioake played 4 Tests and 35 ODIs for England.

His elder brother died in a car accident in 2002. He retired from cricket in 2007 and handled his family business. However, his business collapsed due to the recession in 2008. In 2011, he announced that he has gone bankrupt. Hollioake later became a mixed martial artist to earn his living. Since 2018, Hollioake works as a cricket coach in Afghanistan and trains the Afghan T20 cricket team Boost Defenders, which participates in Shpageeza Cricket League.

Mathew Sinclair

Mathew Sinclair is a former New Zealand player. He was a right-handed middle-order batsman. Sinclair smashed a double century in his debut Test match against West indies in December 1999. Sinclair played for New Zealand from 1999 to 2009. In his 10-year professional career, he played 33 Tests, 54 ODIs.

He announced his retirement in 2013 and was reportedly jobless for some time. He did not complete his education and therefore, struggled to find a good job. He worked in a sports shop for 8 months. Later, he worked as a real estate agent in Napier, a city in New Zealand, and also plays at the club level currently.

Arshad Khan

Arshad Khan is a former Pakistan player. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm off-break bowler who played 9 Tests and 58 ODIs for Pakistan national team. Khan’s international professional career spanned from 2000 to 2006. After his ouster from the national team, he had to work odd jobs to meet ends. He worked as an Uber Driver in Sydney, Australia in 2015.

After a few years, he was appointed as bowling coach of the Pakistan women’s national cricket team in November 2020.

Chris Cairns

Chris Cairns is a former New Zealand player. Cairns was an all-rounder who batted right-handed and bowled right-arm fast. He played for New Zealand from 1989 to 2006. In his 17-year long professional career, Cairns played 62 Tests and 215 ODIs for New Zealand. After such a long and successful international career, it is hard to believe that Cairns went from riches to rags.

In December 2013, Cairnes was subjected to allegations of match-fixing and had to face an ICC investigation. He was alleged to manipulate matches in Indian Cricket League as the captain of Chandigarh Lions, a charge he totally denied. The investigation drained Cairnes’ wealth. As of now, he reportedly cleans bus shelters in the trans-Tasman country to earn his living.