A solution to cricket's pay dispute "looks even more remote" after Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland indicated the governing body would "refuse to budge on its offer to players," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Negotiations between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association for a new five-year deal have "hit a wall" and with only three weeks remaining under the current agreement. Progress "does not appear likely." Sutherland said that he could not see his organisation "bending on the terms of its new performance-based, sliding scale pay system" despite the players' union claiming the players "will be unfairly short-changed" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/8). Meanwhile, the AAP's Steve Larkin reported that Sutherland said he's "surprised and a little bit disappointed" with the attitude of the players' union. CA prefers a new pay system based on performance, and under a reworked definition of cricket revenue, will leave players some $80 million better off in the next five years. Sutherland said, "We have put a very substantial offer on the table, it's in the vicinity of $80M more over a five-year period than what we paid in the preceding five-year period" (AAP, 6/8).
ISSUES IN NEW DELHI: The PRESS TRUST OF INDIA reported that Board For Control Of Cricket In India’s new Anti-Corruption and Security Chief Investigator Ravi Sawani has submitted his inquiry report on allegations of corruption, including spot-fixing, levelled against five uncapped Indian players to the Board president. Sawani, a former head of ICC's anti-corruption and security unit, "interviewed all five tainted players in person." The report will now be studied by the BCCI disciplinary committee comprising of President N Srinivasan and VPs Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah, though "no date has been fixed for the panel to meet." The three-member committee will study the report before deciding on final action against the five players, who were suspended by the Board, under BCCI and IPL’s codes of conduct (PTI, 6/9).
