Internet Desk: Many Australian cricketers both past and present spoke against the Australian Cricket board after talks between the Australian Cricketers’ Union (ACA) and Cricket Australia (CA) fell down over proposed payment.
The Australian cricketers refused a pay offer from the governing body by claiming it was “a win for cricket administrators but a loss for cricket”.
Cricket Australia in March released their proposal which offered huge rises in salary for the women cricketers but it also broke the model which was for a fixed percentage for over 20 years.
“They needed to meet terms with CA or players would go unpaid when the existing collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30” said CA chief executive James Sutherland to the Australian Cricketers’ Union (ACA).
Australian cricketers took to Twitter in response to the CA’s email with the hashtag #fairshare.
Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc hinted the players might go on strike as the The Ashes looms large. “Makes for an interesting men’s and women’s ashes…,” he tweeted.
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson seconded Starc’s view. “Well said @mstarc56. It will be an interesting game of cricket without any players,” he tweeted.
“Players are staying strong,” tweeted Australian pacer Pat Cummins.
“Players past & present will stay strong,” tweeted fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. The ACA said in response that the “threats… were a window into the nature of CA’s behaviour in these negotiations so far.”
“There is incoherence and aggression in what we have experienced at the negotiating table from CA,” ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson said in a statement on Sunday.
“This has further been demonstrated this week with some top players being offered multi-years deals one day only to now be threatened the next.”