Australia set to boycott SA tour
DISPUTE: NO PAY, NO PLAY SAYS PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATION
As many as 230 players were left unemployment after new deal could not be reached with cricket bosses.
Sydney
Players will boycott an Australia A tour of South Africa this month in an escalation of their bitter dispute with Cricket Australia (CA) unless a new pay deal is agreed, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) said yesterday.
The players’ union held an emergency meeting in Sydney where they decided to take action for the tour beginning on July 12 unless a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with CA by Friday.
ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson said a “significant breakthrough” was needed for the South Africa tour to proceed.
The latest development in the stalled pay row comes after both parties failed to reach an agreement on a new MOU before Friday’s deadline after months of protracted negotiations. It leaves as many as 230 male and female players unemployed and threatens fixtures including this year’s prestige home Ashes series.
“They don’t intend to tour, but the reality is they don’t fly out of the country until Friday,” Nicholson told reporters of the Australia A tour.
“So the players are going to go into camp as planned and hopefully we can make some progress with regards to the MOU. There would need to be a significant breakthrough on the key issue of the revenue sharing model.”
CA said in response it would never force any players to play for an Australian team.
“Australia A is a development tour which gives players an opportunity to perform at a high level,” CA said in a statement.
“It is therefore surprising that players would elect not to tour, however CA has never, and would never attempt to force anyone to play for an Australian team who is unwilling to do so.’’
“It’s not an easy thing to do... but we are very united,” Australia A captain Usman Khawaja said. –