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Leagues and Governing Bodies

CA, ACA Move Toward AFL-Inspired Compromise To Resolve Pay Dispute

Cricket's "bitter pay dispute" is moving toward an Australian Football League-­inspired compromise that "would give significant wage increases to men and women players, provide more money for local ­cricket facilities and enable both sides to end the negotiations claiming they got what they wanted," according to Le Grand & Lalor of THE AUSTRALIAN. Pressure is "mounting" on Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association to strike an agreement. A spokesperson for Australian Federal Sports Minister Greg Hunt said, "The minister has spoken with both parties in the cricket dispute. He has urged both sides to resolve it as a matter of priority and to show flexibility." Australian players expressed their "frustration with the protracted negotiations."

Cricketer Pat Cummins said, "Players are as frustrated as anyone else. We want to play." CA on Monday provided the ACA with a revised draft deal which, "if acceptable to the union, would allow the game to go on" while a new memorandum of understanding setting out the pay and conditions for all professional cricketers for the next five years is finalized. Under the terms of CA's ­revised offer, men and women players would draw their salaries and bonuses "from an agreed total player payment pool equating to a percentage of forecast revenue." Above-forecast revenue would be "distributed according to a complex, sliding scale ­between the players, community cricket infrastructure and other spending priorities" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/25).

BANGLADESH BOYCOTT: Lalor also reported Australia's senior players voted at a "secret meeting in Sydney" to attend a planned training camp but "boycott the tour of Bangladesh if a deal is not reached" with CA. The players discussed a "range of options including taking part in the tour under a special contractual arrangement" -- Australia's women cricketers played in the World Cup under interim contracts -- but "resolved to stand by the resolutions reached at their meeting on July 2 and refuse to partake in any tours unless there is a new MOU in place." Almost all of Australia's professional cricketers have been training "without pay because of the dispute despite being told by CA they will receive no backpay when a deal is done" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/25). In Sydney, Jon Pierik reported cricketers want CA to "agree to a six-point terms sheet they offered last week in a bid to find common ground before intensive negotiations over a new memorandum of understanding begin." As part of what the players said is a "peace plan," they agreed to redirect A$30M ($23.8M) of money "they are due to receive to grassroots cricket over the next five years." CA said that, overall, more than A$200M ($158.4M) is needed over the next five years to bankroll what it claimed is a "chronic shortage of funds directed to junior and club cricket," sparking claims some of the money shared by the CA exec "should also be redirected" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 7/24).

ENGLISH CAPTAIN WEIGHS IN: Also in Sydney, James Buckley reported moments after her side secured a fourth Women's Cricket World Cup crown in Sunday's final against India at Lord's, England captain Heather Knight implored CA and the ACA to sort out their pay dispute "in time for the women's Ashes." Knight said, "Hopefully they get the pay dispute sorted and we can play. I'm getting excited already thinking about the Ashes down under. You saw in that [World Cup] clash down at Bristol the sort of contest that those two teams can have" (SMH, 7/24).

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