Cricket Australia urges players’ union to renew talks to end pay dispute

Cricket Australia has called for the players’ union to take part in last-ditch talks over the coming days to prevent the long-running pay dispute going to arbitration.

The sport’s governing body has rejected a so-called ‘peace plan’ as being detrimental to the grassroots game, with the impasse putting Australia’s proposed Test tour to Bangladesh next month under threat, along with the following one-day series in India and even the coming Ashes series against England.

Cricket Australia has set a deadline of early next week for a memorandum of understanding to be signed or the matter will be referred to formal arbitration.

CA Chief Executive James Sutherland told a media conference that the Australian Cricketers’ Association should enter into talks over the coming days in a bid to finally end an increasingly bitter pay dispute which has dragged on for several months.

The players’ union is unhappy with CA proposals which will change the way players are reimbursed for their image rights, with CA countering the new deal is needed to best fund all levels of the game.

Sutherland said that players could be re-contracted at the start of arbitration, with CA happy to accept the outcome of that process. He also dismissed the ACA proposal of a peace plan.

“I’ve been involved in the negotiations over the last month and while there’s been some progress in that time, I’ve had some increasing concerns about whether everyone is going at the same pace and dealing with this issue with the same level of urgency,” said Sutherland in quotes reported on the CA website.

“I acknowledge the ACA has put forward a document known as a peace plan, it claims that there could be something like $30 million that flow to grassroots but, like any plan, the devil is in the detail.

“And certainly, as we do our analysis on that plan, we find that cricket as a whole is worse off and certainly our ability to fund greater investment in grassroots is compromised by the way that plan is put together.”

Australia’s vice-captain David Warner took a dim view of the developments, posting the following message on his Instagram account accompanying a picture of him in full Test garb, including baggy green cap.

“This Baggy means the world to me,” he wrote. “Myself and all the other cricketers female and male want to get out there and play.

“We offered $30m of our money to grassroots as a peace plan. It was ignored. We asked for mediation twice before and it was rejected. Now CA says there is a crisis.

“The players are unemployed and some are hurting financially but continue to train. Administrators all still being paid. How is it our fault no deal is done. #fairshare.”