CA-ACA pay dispute | Australian players mull Bangladesh tour boycott
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Australia’s senior players have threatened to boycott next month’s tour of Bangladesh unless their ongoing pay dispute with Cricket Australia is settled before the tour, reports have emerged. The players, though, have until then decided to participate in the training camp at Darwin from August 10.
Almost four weeks since the June 30 deadline, with about 230 cricketers unemployed, the pay dispute between the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) and the Cricket Australia (CA) continues despite several meetings between ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson and CA chief James Sutherland.Â
As per a report on The Australian, yesterday, Steven Smith and David Warner attended a meeting with Nicholson to consider various options, including going ahead with the Bangladesh tour under a special contractual arrangement. But eventually, they refused to take part in any tours unless there was a new MoU in place.
The team, though, will attend the training camp in Darwin on August 10 but the ACA clarified that it doesn’t mean any change in their stance. The only practice match is due to start 12 days later, on August 22. The Australia A team also went through a similar rigmarole before boycotting their tour of South Africa earlier this month and later, they were replaced by Afghanistan.
The dispute between the two parties happened when CA proposed a new revenue-sharing model, in which it directed more funds to the grassroots level. Although the players had offered to sacrifice up to A$ 30 million (US$ 24 million) of their pay to grassroots cricket, CA stood by its stance and chose not to offer the revenue-sharing deal, which left the players disappointed.
Not sure the players can do much more to solve the dispute. We're really proud to offer up to an extra $30million for grassroots #fairshare
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) July 24, 2017
Players are as frustrated as anyone else. We want to play. Offering even more to grassroots to get a deal!!! #fairshare
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) July 24, 2017
