New hope for truce on pay war

AN Ashes cricket crisis could yet be averted after Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland heeded calls to become involved in cricket’s ugly pay war and expectations are growing progress in the bitter stoush could be imminent.

As sponsors and broadcasters up the ante on CA and financial pressures build on the administration and players, Sutherland has joined the negotiating team in a bid to bring the matter closer to a resolution.

It is understood communication progressed from phone calls and emails, and now he, as part of the CA negotiating party, has had several meetings with Australian Cricketers Association boss Alistair Nicholson and his team.

While there were setbacks in talks thought to be positive last week, which led to the cancel- lation of the Australia A tour, the increased presence of Sutherland, as per requests from the ACA, is considered significant and sources suggest progress could be made “fast”.

Tomorrow looms as an another important deadline as it would be the first pay day missed for any of the 230 unemployed cricketers, who will not receive any back pay the longer time goes without a new memorandum of understanding.

The two parties continue to lock horns over the division of what the ACA believes could be as much as $2.6 billion in cricket revenue over the next five years. That figure remains in dispute, and a “soft” TV market could cost CA as much as $200 million in its next TV deal for international cricket and the Big Bash.