Six-Month Ban On Playing Unsanctioned Matches: Cricket Australia Warns Players

Jan 13, 2019 at 4:22 PM

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Six-Month Ban On Playing Unsanctioned Matches: Cricket Australia Warns Players

The Background:

Cricket Australia (CA) and Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) have been in negotiation to strike a new pay deal for quite some time now but nothing positive has been panned out yet.

Earlier this year, Cricket Australia had threatened that players would not be paid beyond June 30, the date of expiry of their current five-year financial deal, if they don’t accept the governing body’s new proposed offer which abolishes the revenue-share arrangement that the players have enjoyed for the last 20 years.

Image credits: Getty

The Story:

With CA and ACA unlikely to strike any deal by the dateline of July 1, the players have now put themselves in danger of being unemployed once the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) expires after the end of this month. And the ongoing pay dispute is all set to take an ugly turn with the players facing a possibility of the ban from this year’s Ashes if they participate in unapproved cricket, as the last few days have witnessed talks of players participating in overseas Twenty20 tournaments and in exhibition games.

Image credits: Getty

Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s team performance manager, on Wednesday (June 28), issued a notice to the player’s state associations as well as to the ACA. The notice, however, was not sent directly to the Australia Women’s team in England, who are currently defending their World Cup title in England.

As per the reports in ESPNcricinfo, Howard has told the players that they cannot play in games which are not under the purview of the national board and a failure of that will invite a suspension of minimum six months. He also insisted that the players would need to be issued with No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from CA if they wish to play in overseas tournaments in addition to stating that the NOCs will be assessed on a ‘case by case basis’.

The notice from Howard:

“Players (including uncontracted players) cannot play in ICC approved cricket (e.g. domestic T20 competitions operated by overseas cricket boards) without approval from Cricket Australia. Players who participate in disapproved cricket (e.g. exhibition matches) are not permitted to participate in ICC approved cricket for a minimum of six months thereafter,”  Howard wrote.

Image credits: BCCI

‘Not an employee of CA after contract expiry’

“If your contract expires on 30 June, you will not be an employee of CA, a State Association or a W/BBL Team from 1 July,” Howard wrote. “This means that you are not required to play, train, perform player appearances or media commitments, and you will not be paid a retainer until such time as a MoU is agreed and a player contract is agreed with you in writing.

“If a MoU is agreed on or by 14 July, your playing contract would only commence from the date the MoU is agreed. CA does not intend that retainers would be back paid to cover any elapsed period between your current contract expiring and the execution of a new contract when a new MoU is agreed.”

The commercial warning:

“All players will be provided with a list of protected sponsors for 2017/18,” Howard wrote. “Any player entering into unapproved endorsements during any uncontracted period puts at risk future endorsement arrangements with CA, State and W/BBL partners and puts you at risk of not being able to enter into a contract for the upcoming season with CA, the State or W/BBL Team.”

Image credits: Association Press

The CA, meanwhile, has made it clear that a delay in signing of the new contracts beyond July 14 would result in no back pays. And with both CA and ACA not willing to bow down, the latter has called upon CA CEO James Sutherland to negotiate with chief Alistair Nicholson.

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