Cricket stars could be asked to play for free

USMAN Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell will be asked by Cricket Australia to represent their country for love and no money in an extraordinary scenario that defies the era of professional sport.

Cricket’s pay crisis, which is set to leave more than 200 players unemployed come Saturday, has lurched into an almost absurdist realm where some of the game’s biggest names will be offered temporary tour contracts to play for Australia A in two weeks . . . for no pay.

Maxwell is a global superstar, but if he is to put his name up in lights on hard, bouncy South African pitches to push his claim for a home Ashes berth, he has to consider swinging his bat for free.

As it stands, the Australia A squad due to tour Africa is split down the middle, with five players on the brink of unem- ployment and the rest in a position where even if the memorandum of understanding saga remains unresolved, they will continue to be paid by Cricket Australia on multiyear state contracts.

In a bid to save the tour from collapse but at the same time follow through on chief executive James Sutherland’s threat that Cricket Australia would stop paying players after June 30, it is understood that “unpaid contracts” will be offered to Australia A headline acts Khawaja, Maxwell, Travis Head and Jackson Bird.

A CA spokeswoman denied any decisions on tour contracts had been made, but the plan in place effectively proposes that the players would be covered for insurance and expenses, but they would earn nothing for their work, not even match payments.

Players are desperate to tour and push their future Test claims, but also feel duty bound to maintain a united front with fellow unemployed players in the fight for the revenue share model to remain.

The Australian Cricketers Association declined to comment on the development of players being asked to work for free, but president Greg Dyer earlier yesterday indicated that in theory the players would consider accepting tour contracts if they trusted CA was moving towards an overall solution to the saga.