In "Australia's cricket war, a path to detente has opened up, albeit narrow and fraught," according to Greg Baum of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. There was room to maneuver in the players' position, Australian Cricketers' Association President Greg Dyer said on Thursday, and "a mind for a deal by the June 30 deadline." Dyer said, "The players have always had and still do have flexibility. There is room to move to modernize this partnership." Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland "welcomed Dyer's words, cautiously." Sutherland said, "I hope those comments are a good sign. Certainly CA remains ready, willing and able to negotiate so that the flexibility built into our proposal can finally be explored." But "sensitivities were still apparent" when CA later issued a statement "doubting the ACA's goodwill." CA said, "We question how genuine the ACA is about wanting to conclude an MOU by June 30 when it has refused for months to even begin a negotiation process unless its preconditions are met and yet puts out a media release almost daily calling for CA to be flexible." These "faltering, indeed bumbling steps" toward a "resumption of talks follow reported back-channel discussions between the two bodies and an olive twig offered by Australian player and ACA board member Moises Henriques" in London, where the Australians are preparing for the Int'l Cricket Council Champions Trophy. The "sticking point is still the starting point." Each party thinks the other is being "unreasonable about revenue-sharing, the ACA by insisting on it, CA by resisting it" (SMH, 6/1).
