The Story:
The pay dispute between Australia Cricketer’s Association versus Cricket Australia has now gone beyond the deadline of 30th June 2017 meaning that 230 domestic cricketers are now officially unemployed, as the current contract has expired.
This has caused a new sense of insecurity among the cricketers. In a bid to make their case clear and opposition stronger it has been understood that the players are mulling over a complete boycott of the upcoming scheduled tours.
It was expected that the two parties would meet in a middle ground but unfortunately, it hasn’t happened until now.
Players With Multi-Year Deals Also Protest
It is been revealed that no Aussie cricketer will sign contracts nor take part in the Australia A tour of South Africa unless a MoU is agreed between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association. The players with multi-year deals have also decided to take this stance.
However, the selected squad members have agreed that they will not withdraw from the pre-season plans and decided to take part in a training camp in Brisbane from Monday ahead of the proposed trip. The decision was made on Sunday after the ACA executive met male and female players in Sydney.
National team captain Steven Smith spoke with the executive via telephone from the United States. It also confirms that all players, whether on multi-year deals with their states or not, will refuse to play without a MoU.
“It’s not an easy thing to do. Individually, I really want to play cricket. I haven’t played cricket for a long time. It’s the same with all the other guys,” Usman Khawaja, named Australia A captain for the tour, said. “But we’re very united. It was quite an easy phone call in the end because everyone was going in the same direction.
“We’re still going to be training this week, going up there, doing our thing and getting ready. Hopefully, something can be resolved but if it’s not it’s just a tough decision that sort of has to be made at this time.”
“The players have resolved that, unless contractually obliged, no male or female players intend to play for a Cricket Australia (CA) team whilst fellow players remain unemployed due to the absence of a MoU,” an ACA spokesman said. “This is an outright rejection of CA’s attempts to divide and rule. It is a resolution, which will be revisited at the next and subsequent ACA Executive meetings since the players remain hopeful that common sense will prevail and a new MOU can still be agreed on fair terms.
“The Executive noted that all players with valid and enforceable contracts (such as multi-year State or BBL deals) will continue to honour them, and will expect their employers to do the same. This includes an expectation of the players sharing in revenue as contained in those contracts. If this is not honoured by their employer, then the enforceability of these contracts will also become questionable.
“The Executive noted legal advice that a State Player may “accept” or reject an offer to participate on a Tour with CA, such as the proposed Australia A Tour of South Africa.”
No ‘A’ Tour of South Africa
The ACA states that the players aren’t obligated to make the Australia A tour of South Africa The subsequent Test tour of Bangladesh and the limited overs tour of India can also face a boycott if the new MOU is not agreed upon and brought into effect.
“All Australian professional cricketers are not obliged to and are unavailable to Tour South Africa as a part of the Australia A team without an agreed MoU,” the spokesman said. “Unless contractually obliged, no player intends to Tour for a Cricket Australia team whilst others are unemployed courtesy of the expired MoU. [The ACA is] in possession of legal advice examining the MoU and mandated player contracts that the players cannot be contractually required by CA to participate and play in an international Tour, including the Proposed Australia A Tour, beyond 30 June 2017 because:
“In the case of CA Contracted Players, their contracts with and obligations to CA will all have expired on 30 June 2017. In the case of the more than 50% of State Contracted Players, their contracts with and obligations to CA (and their State Associations) will have expired on 30 June 2017.
“In the case of the remaining State Contracted Players on multi-year contracts extending beyond 30 June 2017, their State Player Contracts and the MOU acknowledge that a player can either ‘accept’ an offer by CA to Tour or not; there is no compulsion to do so. Also for the period beyond 30 June 2017, there are many important issues that are not agreed in the State Player contract, such as the form of Tour Contract that would apply if no MOU is in place, the applicable Squad, Team and Tour Payments and any applicable list of CA protected sponsors.”
Ashes Under Threat
It is also feared that the ‘Ashes” can also come under danger. But, fortunately, the ACA has no stance regarding the important summer event involving arch rivals England. It says that the player will be offered but on the “right terms.”
“To rescue the Tours and the Summer of Cricket referenced above, if there was no agreed MOU, the ACA will be discussing with the players the assignment to the ACA of an exclusive option to employ or second them,” the spokesman said.
“In contract players will also participate in the discussion regarding assigning rights to the ACA to allow them to Tour. This means the ACA could offer to facilitate the availability of players on the right terms to assist those games and series that we all wish to see played. This may extend to the ACA offering the players back to CA on the right terms for the purposes of rescuing the Summer of Cricket. This would be best achieved by an agreed MOU.