'In England they look after the interests of the players, as in most sports, but in Australia it seems the other way about," former Australian Test captain George Giffen wrote in 1911. The Australian Board of Control, formed in 1905, expected cricketers to "play for the love of the game", Giffen observed. "Never mind about the future. No benefits ... after 20 years service. Oh, no, go on the land or to the nut factory." Retiring Australian Test captain Michael Clarke might be pondering a future in business investment, but Australia's early captains enjoyed mixed fortunes.
Giffen visited England five times in the golden era of Australian cricket, when players often netted Â£500 each as their share of tour profits. He complained that the Cricket Board was dividing profits between players and Australian cricket clubs. 
Hailed as one of South Australia's greatest all-rounders, scoring more than 1000 runs and bagging over 100 wickets in England between 1882 and 1896, Giffen's day job at Adelaide's Post and Telegraph office suffered because of his regular 12-month leaves of absence to train and play cricket. As he neared retirement after 40 years in the job, when younger employees had far outstripped his pay grade and position, supporters promoted a benefit match to recognise Giffen's contribution to Australian cricket.
Australia's first Test captain, in 1877 and 1879, batsman and gifted mathematician Dave Gregory pursued a successful off-pitch career over 44 years in the NSW public service. He joined the Auditor-General's Department from high school to retire as treasury paymaster in 1908, winning strong praise from then premier Joseph Carruthers.
His successor Billy Murdoch, captain in 16 Tests between 1880 and 1890, qualified as a solicitor and formed Murdoch & Murdoch with his brother Gilbert. The partnership dissolved in 1879, leaving the NSW wicket-keeper bankrupt with debts of Â£775. Murdoch paid his share of profits from the 1880 English tour to his brother. He settled in England in 1890, qualified for Sussex, toured South Africa and played his last first-class season for W.G. Grace's London County side in 1904, aged 50. He died suddenly while watching a Test match against South Africa in Melbourne in   February, 1911.
Irish-born batsman Tom Horan, who refined his technique in Melbourne, played 15 games from 1878 and captained twice against England in 1885, when many regulars boycotted in a dispute over money. Horan worked as an audit office clerk, arranging his leave, often unpaid, to coincide with international and colonial matches.
Under the pen-name Felix, Horan also pioneered journalism as a lucrative off-pitch sideline. From his first newspaper column in 1879, Horan filed weekly until his death in 1916, earning praise from player-writer Bill O'Reilly as "the cricket writer par excellence".
South Australian bat Joe Darling's Test career was delayed by the demands of his grain-trader father, who wanted his sixth son to manage a wheat farm. Darling's teammates chose him as captain for the 1899 England tour, when Australia lost just three of 35 matches. Darling further antagonised his father when he opened a sports store in 1900. His father then purchased Stonehenge, an isolated sheep station in Tasmania and ordered Darling to manage it, on threat of exclusion from his will. Darling moved to Tasmania and left first-class cricket for two years, returning to captain Australia against the touring English side in 1901. Retiring in 1905, Darling oversaw the Royal Hobart Show, researched pasture improvement and rabbit eradication and entered the Tasmanian Legislative Council as an independent.
As one of 16 children, batsman Clem Hill's six brothers and father Henry played cricket for South Australia. Hill also played football for South Adelaide as well as competitive tennis, golf and bowls, and served an engineering apprenticeship in the government workshops.
A gifted batsman, Hill turned down an invitation to tour England in 1909 due to his unhappiness with the Australian Board of Control. Appointed captain in 1910 and 1911 against South Africa, a brawl with cricket administrator and fellow Test selector Peter McAlister in 1912 ended his captaincy. Meeting in an office at Martin Place, Hill reportedly leaned across the table to McAlister, who had insulted his captaincy, and said: "You've been asking for a punch on the jaw and I'll give you one." Hill quit cricket for horse racing, working as a steward and later as a handicapper for races including the Caulfield Cup. He died aged 68 when thrown from a tram in Melbourne in 1945.
Bradman broke rulesDESPITE his batting prowess, Don Bradman quickly realised he could make more money from journalism than cricket. Bradman's reflections on his first tour in 1930 were recorded in a 50,000 word book, serialised in London's Star newspaper in the   August. The Australian Board of Control ruled it a technical breach of his tour contract, which banned players from writing about the game and fined him Â£50. Bradman's introduction to business in 1945 proved equally controversial, when his mentor and employer, Adelaide stockbroker and Board of Control member Harry Hodgetts, embezzled Â£83,000 from his firm, leaving 238 creditors owed Â£103,000.