Australian cricket in state of civil war

The escalating tension between Cricket Australia and players has reached new heights after chief executive James Sutherland threatened in an explosive email that they would not be paid beyond June 30 unless they accepted the governing body’s proposed overhaul of player remuneration.

The correspondence, sent by Sutherland to Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Alistair Nicholson on Friday and forwarded by CA to players around the country, suddenly casts into question what kind of team Australia may be able to field beyond the end of the financial year, starting with August’s test series in Bangladesh.

Sutherland has not sat in on the bitter pay talks but weighed into the dispute by revealing: ‘‘CA is not contemplating alternative contracting arrangements to pay players beyond 30 June if their contracts have expired.’’

In a blunt and calculated warning, he said: ’’In the absence of the ACA negotiating a new MOU [memorandum of understanding], players with contracts expiring in 2016-17 will not have contracts for 2017-18’’; that players with existing multi-year state or Big Bash contracts would be required to play in 2017-18 even if a new pay deal is not struck; and that if a new MOU was not agreed the Australian women’s squad for the World Cup in June and July would be ‘‘paid in advance’’ and employed only until the end of the tournament in England.

Six months out from a home Ashes series, Sutherland’s email confirms a landscape of a national sport at war with its talent.

If it was designed to frighten players into submission, encouraging some to break ranks, then it backfired. Players appear to be further emboldened by what they regard as an incendiary and aggressive approach by head office and are vowing to resist CA’s bid to dispose of the percentage-ofrevenue pay model. They say privately that if the governing body continues down this path they won’t have a team.