ACA will hire Ashes team if no mediation takes place on cricket impasse

With the ugly contract dispute leaving more than 200 elite Australian players unemployed, and all future tours also in doubt, there was a new twist in the tale when the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) held an emergency meeting with the players in Sydney yesterday. Following that, Cricket Australia could be forced to licence back its Test stars from the players’ association it is at war with to avoid an Ashes tour blackout this summer.

On Friday, the Australia A side decided not to leave for South Africa and the players made it clear there would be no tours of Bangladesh or India either if things weren’t resolved. Players’ association chief executive Alastair Nicholson again called on CA to accept mediation and for its chief executive James Sutherland to help break the impasse.

“Our position currently is mediation with CEO-to-CEO talks is the way we can break through this key issue — until that changes, that is the way we are going to hold to,” he said.

Talks broke down completely in the last weeks of negotiations, with the ACA saying it was unable to deal with CA executive manager Kevin Roberts.

Captain Smith approves

Captain Steve Smith, who is currently on holidays with his fiancé in New York, joined the separate phone hook-up with the Australia A squad. The players passed 14 resolutions at the meeting, including one that proposed a new arrangement between the ACA and CA if no memorandum of understanding is reached by the time England arrives for the Ashes.

“If there was no agreed MOU, the ACA will be discussing with players the assignment to the ACA of an exclusive option to employ or second them,” the meeting resolved. “This means the ACA could offer to facilitate the availability of players on the right terms to assist those games and series¬ that we all wish to see played.

“This may extend to the ACA offering the players back to CA on the right terms for the purposes of rescuing the summer of cricket. This would be best achieved by an agreed MOU. This option is available to the ACA and could be exercised absent an agreed MOU.”

Players signed their intellectual property rights over to the ACA on the breakdown of talks, and the organisation said it was “now looking to sign sponsorships and arrange player appearances on behalf of Australia’s greatest players, now unemployed”.

The AUSTRALIAN reported that CA is believed to be unable to use the players’ images to promote the game since the rights were signed over and broadcasters will have to negotiate with the ACA if they want to use players to promote series.

Usman Khawaja speaks up

Test batsman Usman Khawaja, who was named Australia A captain for the South Africa tour, spoke after the meeting and agreed to the suggestion that there had been attempts by CA to divide the players.
“It’s been a weird three months,” he said. “There’s been conversations had outside cricket, which have been quite different to anything I’ve experienced.

“The last few weeks and the last few months, it’s shown how committed the players are to the revenue-share model and we are committed to strike a deal. We want to play cricket — we want to play cricket for our fans, we want to play cricket because we love the game — so we’re flexible in working towards that,” Khawaja added.

The ACA said there were 70-odd domestic players on multi-year contracts, which may have to be honoured, but they would support their colleagues and could not be compelled to tour. CA issued a statement accepting that stance later in the day.

“Australia A is a development tour which gives players an opportunity to perform at a high level,” the administrators said.

“It is therefore surprising that players would elect not to tour, however, CA has never, and would never, attempt to force anyone to play for an Australian team who is unwilling to do so. CA remains ready to negotiate a new MOU and has again called on the ACA to show genuine flexibility.”

Khawaja said the standoff was difficult for players. “It’s not an easy thing to do,’’ he said. “Individually, I really want to play cricket. I haven’t played cricket for a long time. It’s the same with all the other guys. But we’re very united.

“It was quite an easy phone call in the end because everyone was going in the same direction.’’