As their "last day as gainfully employed cricketers dawns," players are "clinging to the faint chance" that Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland will deliver a "last-minute detente in the nation’s cricket war," according to Andrew Faulkner of THE AUSTRALIAN. Sutherland arrived in Australia on Thursday from Int'l Cricket Council business in England to "increasingly louder calls for him to intervene in the pay dispute" before the players’ contracts expire on Friday. The players' union was on Thursday "holding out hope" that Sutherland would call Australian Cricketers' Association CEO Alistair Nicholson to "try to breach the impasse before the deadline." Sutherland did not return calls on Thursday, but "his ears were no doubt ringing" after he and High Performance Manager Pat Howard were "mauled" by Alan Jones on Sydney radio on Thursday (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/30).
SPOTLIGHT ON SUTHERLAND: In Sydney, Andrew Wu reported Australia's cricketers are "adamant" they will not come to the negotiating table unless Sutherland is there, but CA said "that will not happen." Sources said that Sutherland and Nicholson traded calls on Thursday, "giving the faintest glimmer of hope for a dramatic 11th hour resolution on Friday." The two parties "remain miles apart," with the ACA "committed to retaining the revenue-share model that has been in place for 20 years." Howard was in Melbourne on Thursday to resume negotiations but that "was rebuffed by the ACA," which wants to deal with Sutherland. By maintaining this stance, CA said that the ACA is "not showing respect to the governing body's negotiating team." The dispute is "shaping as a defining moment in Sutherland's 16-year reign, in which he has overseen the introduction of the popular Big Bash League and the advent of day-night Test cricket." Those landmark achievements "will be overshadowed" if Australian cricket careens off a "cliff" and tours, to South Africa for Australia A and Bangladesh for the Test side, "become the first scrapped due to an industrial dispute" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/29).
STRIKE LOOMING: In Melbourne, Russell Gould reported the first player strike in Australian cricket history is "now looming large." CA issued an edict that the behavior of players while uncontracted, including playing in unsanctioned matches or signing unapproved endorsement deals, "could have severe consequences," including six-month playing bans. But they are "effectively free agents" and that would "almost certainly" rule some, including Test players Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja, out of the upcoming Australia A tour. A meeting of ACA execs in Sydney on Sunday, which will include players Aaron Finch and Moisés Henriques, "will determine whether those players boycott the tour." The meeting "looms as the first major test of the solidarity within the wider playing group" (HERALD SUN, 6/29). In Sydney, Andrew Faulkner reported cricketers refused to yield to CA's "threats" while "vowing to turn up to work as usual on Monday -- without pay." On Thursday, the players described reports of a rift in their ranks as "absolute bullshit," and they "appear united in also refusing to tour South Africa and Bangladesh next month and in August." Nicholson said, "Players will not respond to more threats." CA also warned players -- who will all withdraw their intellectual property from the administrators if a deal is not done -- that "if they sign with competing sponsors they will not be offered new contracts" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/30).
