Oz players won pay war: Border

LONDON: Former Australia skipper Allan Border believes it was the players who won the Australian cricket’s pay war.

The long standing dispute between Cricket Australia (CA) and Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) finally came to an end as an “in-principle agreement” was signed after final round of face-to-face negotiations on Thursday.

“The players have had a huge win,” The Guardian quoted Border as saying.

“This has been a total knockout in the 15th round for the players. They should be very happy with the situation, particularly the girls,” he added.

The former Test skipper raised doubts over the future of country’s grassroots cricket.

“I can’t quite work out grassroots cricket (though), what’s going to change? They still go out there and do their chook raffles and fundraising events and nothing much has changed as far as I can tell,” said Border.

As a result of this development, the Steve Smith-led side tours of Bangladesh and India, and the Ashes series to be played Down Under will proceed as planned.

Australia’s tour to Bangladesh is scheduled to begin from August 22.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has also breathed a sigh of relief after the signing of in-principle agreement.

“It’s great news for Bangladesh. Definitely we are very happy to see the problem has resolved,” BCB boss Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.

Australia captain Steve Smith admitted the negotiations were challenging. “It’s been a long and challenging process and it’s great that we can now get on with playing the game that we all love,” he tweeted.

This has been a total knockout in the 15th round for the players. They should be very happy with the situation. ALLAN BORDER, On the agreement