Australia players to boycott Bangladesh tour if pay dispute is not solved

Australian cricket is perhaps in the middle of a terrible time off the field. Their pay dispute with the board hasn’t resolved yet and more than 230 Australian cricketers are without a work contract. Amidst the tension, the Australian team is scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a 2-match Test series.

The previous contract of the players ended on June 30, earlier this year. Last week the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) and the Cricket Australia (CA) met for a meeting in order to reach an agreement on the pay-dispute. But the crisis seems to not end soon as the meeting resulted in a breakdown between both the parties.

Discussion between the big names

Aussie skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner met with the ACA chief executive Alastair Nicholson to talk about the future of Australian cricket. They discussed many points and were certain that the players will be part of the Bangladesh tour only on one condition. They want a new ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to be signed as early as possible, after the long due to CA’s stubborn stance.

“Not sure the players can do much more to solve the dispute. We’re really proud to offer up to an extra $30 million for grassroots #fairshare,” Warner tweeted.

Pacer Patt Cummins added, “Players are as frustrated as anyone else. We want to play. Offering even more to grassroots to get a deal!!! #fairshare.”

If reports are to be believed, the deal between CA and ACA was almost done in the meeting last week. But then the CA refused to accept ACA’s memorandum request. It is the fourth week since the Australian cricketers are unemployed and the players are very much frustrated with the way the board has worked on the issue.

Bangladesh tour

The players of the current Australian Test team agreed to attend the training camp in Darwin on August 10 but were pretty adamant on their decision of not leaving for Bangladesh until the dispute is solved.

Australia are scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a two Tests in August. The first Test would be played from 27th August to 31st August at Dhaka, while the next game would be played from 4th September to 8th September at Chittagong.