Afghanistan A called in as replacement for Australia A in South Africa tri-series

Afghanistan A will replace Australia A in the tri-series against South Africa A and India A, scheduled to be held in South Africa later this month. This was taken as a remedial measure after Australia A opted out of the series. Initially, the triangular series was supposed to take place with the ‘A’ teams of India, Australia and South Africa as the participating nations.

Australia A team had pulled out of the tour a few weeks ago owing to the ongoing pay dispute between the players and Cricket Australia. The two governing bodies Cricket Australia (CA) and Australian Cricketer’s Association (ACA) have been at loggerheads for a considerable period of time, with no consensus on player’s revenue model having been reached at, as of yet. As a result, Cricket South Africa (CSA) invited Afghanistan A to replace Australia A in the triangular series.

CSA elated at Afghanistan’s nod at their invitation

“We are delighted that Afghanistan have accepted our invitation and look forward to welcoming them to our country for the very first time,” commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.

Lauding Afghanistan’s metamorphosis for the better over the years, Lorgat said, “Afghanistan were deservedly granted Full Member status at the ICC annual conference last month after showing impressive growth in recent years. They are a passionate cricket nation and I expect the Afghanistan A team to compete strongly against our A team and India A in the upcoming tri-series.”

CA and ACA battle rages on

Around 200 professional cricketers Down Under, including national skipper Steve Smith, got unemployed when the July 1 deadline – by which time a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two governing bodies was scheduled to be signed, but wasn’t. The deadlock is a result of the CA’s proposal to modify the existing MoU according to which the players are now offered a capped share of surplus revenue. However, the players remain committed to the previous model whereby they receive a share of all gross cricket-related revenue.