David Warner took a dim view of the latest developments in Australia’s pay dispute, posting a message on his Instagram account accompanying a picture of him in full Test garb, including baggy green cap.
“This Baggy means the world to me,” he wrote. “Myself and all the other cricketers female and male want to get out there and play. We offered 30m of our money to grassroots as a peace plan. It was ignored. We asked for mediation twice before and it was rejected. Now [Cricket Australia] says there is a crisis.
“The players are unemployed and some are hurting financially but continue to train. Administrators all still being paid. How is it our fault no deal is done. fairshare.”
The dispute is headed towards the “fair-minded solution” of independent arbitration if agreement over terms for a new memorandum of understanding cannot be reached by early next week.
Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, faced the media on Thursday afternoon, just days after the organisation had indicated a deal with the players’ union was “closer than it appears” to being reached, to outline what he sees as the next logical step in the saga which is threatening this summer’s cricket schedule.
There were still hopes an in-principle agreement could be reached this week that would enable the upcoming tours of Bangladesh and India and the home Ashes series to go ahead, but Sutherland said if that did not materialise, taking the matter to independent arbitrators was the only alternative.
“There are a handful of issues that are unresolved that need to be worked through,” Sutherland said outside CA headquarters in Melbourne. “I do see a way forward. I’m optimistic that both parties getting together over the next few days can resolve the issue but time will tell. What we have put forward here is a good solution, it’s a fair-minded solution.”
CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) have been at loggerheads over a new revenue-sharing model for months before the current deal expired at the end of July. Repeated talks have yet to provide a solution with both parties unwilling to budge on their stances.
“There is no doubt there is a bit of an impasse here,” Sutherland said. “But I believe that with positive intent and the right people in the room we can get this sorted in the next few days. Failing that, we’re prepared to say that we put the issues to arbitration. We accept the umpire’s decision and the game goes one.”
CA said in a statement that in the absence of a negotiated agreement, arbitration appeared to be the “only option available” that would provide “a certain end point to the dispute and restore certainty to the game”.
“This now needs to be achieved as expeditiously as possible,” the statement added.
If the dispute were to go to arbitration, players would be recontracted at the commencement of the process and remain contracted until the final MoU could be signed.
Australia A’s tour to South Africa has already fallen victim to the long-running and bitter dispute between the governing body and the players’ union, and the tour to Bangladesh is next in the firing line. The team is scheduled to fly out to Dhaka on 18 August, with the first two-day match pencilled in for 22 August.
“I have increasing concerns about timelines,” Sutherland said. “We have got a tour coming up to Bangladesh and I think it’s really important this issue is resolved right now or in the short term. We have got a fair mechanism to do that. Best intent. And compromise on both parts will see the matter resolved.”
