Players split over unpaid contracts

CRACKS could be starting to appear in the united player stance against Cricket Australia, with some advocating a boycott of next week’s Australia A camp, and the tour of South Africa, if a new pay deal is not done.

Offers of “unpaid” contracts for those with national deals that expire tomorrow, including Test stars Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja, will be knocked back with a refusal to go on the “A” tour.

But other players who are locked in to long-term state deals are indicating their desire to show up for the squad’s camp in Brisbane next Monday to avoid being in breach of their contracts and continue to push their international claims.

In the absence of a new memorandum of understanding, Cricket Australia has confirmed those players would continue to be paid under the terms of their current agreements.

But there remains confusion within Australian cricket ranks with some believing contracts binding players to their states beyond June 30 aren’t valid after tomorrow because they are linked to the expiring deal.

But people inside CA have maintained that if contracted players who continue to be paid refuse to fulfil obligations, such as state training or participating in the “A” tour, that would constitute a strike.

Potential action against any striking players has not yet been discussed at CA headquarters, where officials still hope to be able to reach a deal to ensure 230 players do not become unemployed.

The ACA has continued to ignore requests for meetings as the deadline nears, intent on waiting until the return of CA boss James Sutherland today.

Most in cricket now fully expect both parties to “fall off the cliff” together after tomorrow, that the South African tour could be sacrificed and all energy would be focused on getting a deal done before the Test tour of Bangladesh in August.

But even that could be put off and a one-day series against India in October become the real crunch moment.

Australian cricket cannot afford to miss the cash windfall a one-day tour of India would provide.