Cricket Australia has announced another 40 job cuts ©Getty Images

Cricket Australia has announced a further 40 job losses and a cut to its annual budget of AUD40 million (£22 million/$27 million/€24 million) as the organisation continues to suffer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings said doing so was need to "partly mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on revenue and other factors such as biosecurity costs and match attendances".

Despite the cricket season not being due to start in Australia yet, the organisation has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Kevin Roberts recently left his role as Cricket Australia chief executive after stakeholders lost confidence in his response to the coronavirus crisis.

Per cricket.com.au, Cricket Australia's media arm, there have now been 200 job losses in Australian Cricket since the crisis began.

That figure includes job cuts at state and territorial level.

Numerous other staff have either taken pay cuts or been placed on leave.

Graeme Hick, a former England international working a batting coach for Australia's national team, is reported to be among those let go in the latest round of redundancies.

Cricket Australia has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, despite it so far occurring outside of the Australian cricket season ©Getty Images
Cricket Australia has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, despite it so far occurring outside of the Australian cricket season ©Getty Images

"We recognise that this is a difficult time for Cricket Australia employees, particularly for those staff members affected by these redundancies and their families," Eddings said.

"However, our responsibility is clear: to navigate a path for cricket through this period of uncertainty and disruption to ensure we come out the other side sustainable in the short term and prosperous in the long term.

"Throughout COVID-19, the need to work closely with the cricket community and to move quickly as circumstances have changed has never been more important.

"With increasing clarity about the impact of COVID-19, we have managed the financial impact on our organisation, our people, our partners and players.

"There will still be painful decisions for some parts of our organisation, but we have worked hard to carefully develop plans to protect our investment in community cricket and high-performance cricket, while ensuring the game's financial sustainability."

Governing bodies across Australia have struggled to cope with the financial consequences of the pandemic, but Cricket Australia's woes will raise eyebrows - especially as it has not yet been forced to cancel hosting an international tour or even hold one of its flagship competitions behind closed doors.

Australia is due to host the Men's T20 World Cup later this year, but that tournament may be postponed.