Grassroots and women's cricket "should be the big winners" in a A$500M ($398.4M) contract deal expected to be announced on Wednesday, according to Peter Lalor of THE AUSTRALIAN. But while future tours including the Ashes "have been saved," Australian cricket "appears to be the poorer after a bruising, unedifying spectacle that has dragged on for 10 months." The players will, "barring a last-minute backflip," retain the revenue-share model they said was non-negotiable and that Cricket Australia "had become adamantly opposed to." The "positive developments come at a critical time" ahead of the Test tour of Bangladesh next month. Players are due in camp on Aug. 10 and the tour, which was canceled in '15 over terrorist threats, was on Tuesday "given an all-clear on the security front." If a deal is announced as expected, it will be "just the second tour of the nation by an Australian Test side." Australia captain Steve Smith said that "there may have been compromise but not on the key issue." Smith: "We've said from ball one that the revenue-share model for every player in Australia has been crucial for us. That's something we've been incredibly strong on." CA denied reports that its board had "scuppered" previous negotiations when parties thought they had a deal (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/2).
STILL ON THE EDGE: In Sydney, Wu & Barrett reported "interminable pay talks were still on the edge" on Tuesday as negotiating parties from both sides "went back and forth on key terms for a new pay deal." Nothing has been signed despite "widespread speculation" CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association were due to hold a joint press conference on Wednesday to announce an end to the pay war. Relations between both sides "remain frosty with negotiations being conducted amid a climate of mistrust." It is understood players will be given a 30% share of revenue, "up from a sliding scale of 27, though they are now absorbing 120 more female players who are entering the new agreement." CA sources, however, believe this will be a "serious modified agreement that gives the governing body flexibility" to allow it to invest more into grassroots cricket and have gender equity pay (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/2). The AAP reported Smith was "noncommittal" when asked about the Bangladesh tour, reaffirming his side will not do it "unless some form of agreement is signed." Smith said, "I told [CA High Performance Manager] Pat Howard personally this was how things were going to be. I'd like to (tour Bangladesh) but as we've said for a long time we need to get a deal done first. A deal hasn't been done just yet" (AAP, 8/2).
