Australia’s imminent tour of Bangladesh under a cloud

The worst possible scenario has happened in Australian cricket. The national cricketers are left almost unemployed as their contracts expire on June 30. The CA has conceded that they have failed to strike a deal with the cricketers within the stipulated deadline, which will leave the cricketers unemployed and without contracts from Saturday.

Contracts to expire today

CA and the Australian Crickets’ Association (ACA) have reached an impasse as the former is keen to scrap the revenue sharing model, a move strongly opposed by the cricketers. After numerous talks, meetings and negotiations; both parties remain firm in their stance. The cricketers will not be locked out by the CA after their contracts will expire, which offers some solace to the Australian fans. CA made headlines when they offered 5 cricketers – Maxwell, Khawaja, Jackson Bird, Ashton Agar and Travis Head – to go ahead with the Australia A tour of South Africa with a temporary contract which will only cover their insurance, tour expenses and travel but not pay them anything in exchange

CA made headlines when they offered 5 cricketers – Maxwell, Khawaja, Jackson Bird, Ashton Agar and Travis Head – to go ahead with the Australia A tour of South Africa with a temporary contract which will only cover their insurance, tour expenses and travel but not pay them anything in exchange for their work.

There hasn’t been any further discussion on that matter yet. There have been talks of a complete boycott but nothing is official as yet. The imminent tour of Bangladesh, which starts in late August, has also come under a cloud. ACA confirmed through a statement that the possibility of a new MoU being signed is out of the question as communicated by CA.

“Cricket Australia today acknowledged that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will not be agreed before 1 July,”

“And repeated its call for the Australian Cricketers’ Association to come to the negotiating table and show genuine flexibility in the best interests of the players and the game.

“CA has been disappointed by the ACA’s unwillingness to consider the sensible and necessary change CA has proposed to the fixed share of revenue player payments model,” the statement read.

David Warner, a senior Australia cricketer, wasn’t affected when CA threatened the players of unemployment. He said that the players “won’t budge” and even threatened to call a strike for the Ashes which start in November.

ACA board and executives to meet on Sunday

The ACA board will hold a meeting on Sunday where they will seek the response of the cricketers on the lapse of the previous agreement. The ACA rejected the last offer made by CA last Friday as they stand unified on retaining the 20-year old revenue sharing model.

As things stand on June 30, one of the parties will have to budge in order to make sure the focus is back on cricket. Calling off an international tour will go a long way in spoiling good cricket relations with different boards, especially the India tour which is scheduled for early October.