Cricket's "pay war has a new flashpoint date with July 3 replacing June 30 as the first true deadline for at least a temporary agreement to be struck to avoid an ugly standoff," according to Russell Gould of the Melbourne HERALD SUN. On that Monday, several nationally contracted players, including Usman Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell, will be "required to report for duty in Brisbane and prepare for an Australia A tour to South Africa, which departs on July 7." Both will be out of contract at the end of this month if a new memorandum of understanding is "not agreed to" and "would not be obliged to front at the National Cricket Centre for training." Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association "will have that tour at front of mind when talks resume this week." It was confirmed that players will not be "locked out of training facilities even if a new deal is not in place by June 30." Most players have begun preseason training with their states and "roughly" 70 around the country are "bound by long term deals." They will "continue to be paid beyond the end of this month" and are "expected to continue training." All players have been told "they will maintain full access to all facilities after June 30, even if negotiations are continuing" (HERALD SUN, 6/19).
