Cricket Australia has given the Australia Cricket Association (ACA) a deadline of June 30 for the players to sign a new Memo of Understanding (MoU) and vowed to stop paying them unless an agreement is rubber stamped.
The dispute centres around CA’s desire to remove the current revenue-sharing agreement with all male and female state players. Australia is one of the favourites for the prestigious 50-over tournament starting on June 1 but the festering pay dispute is hovering over the team. Nothing is sure till the deadline June 30th.
Last week David Warner raised the prospect of players heading overseas to take up the lucrative Twenty20 contracts if their wages are stopped and of an Ashes series taking place on home soil without Australia’s biggest names.
The extent of the feeling from players has been demonstrated on social media with the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and former Test stars like Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson expressing support for the ACA’s stance.
Players are staying strong ?? #fairshare https://t.co/ESq5itOORm
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) May 13, 2017
Well done @ACA_Players for fighting for all groups in Australian cricket. Male, Female, International, Domestic & Grassroots #fairshare https://t.co/rev1I0OBbD
— Peter Handscomb (@phandscomb54) April 28, 2017
Makes for an interesting men’s and women’s ashes… ?#fairshare https://t.co/hwQMpz7KCf
— Mitch Starc (@mstarc56) May 13, 2017
Stoinis, who is the part of Australia’s 15-man Champions Trophy squad, feels it won’t affect their performance in the Champions Trophy at all.
“It’s not really been talked about, it is what it is,” he said on Sunday (May 21). “This kind of stuff happens when the MOU is up and we’ve got the ACA looking at that on our behalf. Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that stage [strike action], nobody wants to see that happen,” he said. “I don’t think it will happen … but we’ll see. We’re here to play cricket and try and win this tournament,”he added.
“Initially they said I would be four-to-six weeks in a sling but that changed pretty quickly when I got home,” he said.
“But it’s all been good news since then. The doctors and medical team are happy. That’s half the thing with an injury, your mind goes to what you might miss out on.I am really looking forward to this opportunity again. You don’t get many with the Australia team and hopefully, I can keep my place and contribute.”
“It’s such a good team and there’s probably only a few guaranteed spots in there so everything’s up for grabs,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of practice games … you’ve just got to take your opportunity and hopefully, I get one.”