Troubled 'baggy green' cap maker assures Cricket Australia all is well Cricket Greg Baum Mitch Marsh tries on his baggy green cap before his first Test.
Albion, for more than half a century the maker of the iconic baggy green cap, has moved to reassure Cricket Australia that the company was viable in the face of reports that it is under severe stress. 
Fairfax media has been told of Albion's struggles on several fronts. It has shed some staff and warned others that it might have to delay their wages. It still has not fully paid out former Australian captain Ricky Ponting for a licensing arrangement dating back to his playing days.
It has failed to fulfil orders on time, or at all, including some for Cricket Australia's ancillary teams and for teams competing in national junior tournaments. "We can't get straight answers," a CA staffer said last week. "We're tearing our hair out." On Tuesday, Albion chief executive and managing director Brendan Denning told CA that it was down to seasonal fluctuations.
A CA spokesman said: "He said all was fine."
Albion is months behind with orders from clubs in Australia, England, Ireland and the Netherlands, and some now are despairing. One in Australia is Upper Ferntree Gully cricket club in Melbourne's east. Treasurer Nicky Irvine- Dejong said the club had paid in advance for new caps last   September and still had not received them.
One knock-on effect is that the club has missed out on funds it would normally raise by adding its own premium to the cap price.
"I've made 40-odd phone calls," Ms Irvine-Dejong said. "Not one has been returned." The club is now preparing an application to VCAT.
Albion was founded in Sydney in 1941 and has been making baggy greens for the Australian team since the 1950s. Later, it expanded into making helmets, and more recently still ventured into protective headgear for jockeys, cyclists and equestrian. In 2011, Albion moved its headquarters to Melbourne, though keeping its factory in Sydney. It also mooted and then abandoned a move to Geelong. In 2014, the Australian Financial Review reported that Albion had been "burnt" by a foray into manufacturing in Asia. Denning did not return calls from Fairfax or reply to an email. A spokesman said: "There are some issues, but everything will be sorted out in the next few days."
This has not been a happy time for famous brands in Australian cricket. Kookaburra, for decades the manufacturer of balls for Australian cricket, had a tough summer when their balls had to be replaced frequently after being battered out of shape in Tests in Brisbane and Perth. It was then announced that English Dukes balls would be used in the second half of Sheffield Shield seasons henceforth, to better prepare Australian players for English conditions.