Unkindest cut of all
Cricket pay war turns to women
CRICKET Australia has accused the Australian Cricketers Association of double standards over why it will not allow female players a cut of a $ 29.5 million adjustment ledger.
A letter from CA’s chief memorandum of understanding negotiator, Kevin Roberts, to ACA boss Alastair Nicholson shines a light on the gulf between the two warring parties days before their pay deal expires.
The revenue share model is at the centre of the feud, but it is clear the adjustment ledger – unbudgeted for money now owed to current and retired players from the five- year period between 2012- 17 – is another serious sticking point.
In the correspondence sent last week, Roberts challenges Nicholson on the association’s position that half of the significant adjustment ledger surplus should not be rolled over to feed into the next pay deal.
He argues a precedent was set in the 2011- 12 MOU when the $ 16.8 million adjustment ledger was rolled over and implores Nicholson it is unfair for the ACA in the next MOU to exclude the new batch of players – which includes women for the first time.
The ACA has responded fiercely, saying it only agreed to the last rollover to help CA with its cash flow.
“In CA’s view, the specific reasons why this decision was made in 2012 are less important than the precedent it set and the clear principle it established – namely that players may benefit from funds accumulated in the adjustment ledger in a previous MOU period, regardless of whether or not they played or were eligible at the time the funds were generated,” Roberts writes.
“For example, all males who played in 2012- 17, including players who did not actually play first- class cricket in 2011- 12, benefited from the $ 16.8m funds carried forward to the current MOU from 2011- 12.
“But if the ACA’s position is understood correctly, and none of the 2012- 17 adjustment ledger is to be carried over into the next MOU, then male players in the cur- rent period will be entitled to receive not only the entire 2011- 12 adjustment ledger, but also the entire 2012- 17 ledger.
“In stark contrast, players who enter first- class cricket for the first time during 2017- 22 will be ineligible for any benefit from the current adjustment ledger.
“Even more unfairly, the ACA’s position means that all female players, even those who have been in the system throughout both MOU periods covering 2011- 17 will be denied any share of the $ 58.5m in the current adjustment ledger.
“... How could this possibly be fair?”