Cricket Australia proposes arbitration in pay dispute with players

Cricket Australia has proposed taking their pay dispute with the nation’s elite players to arbitration if there is no resolution by early next week, chief executive James Sutherland said on Thursday. Australia’s top players have effectively been unemployed since the previous five-year pay deal expired on June 30, forcing the cancellation of the ‘A’ tour of South Africa as the acrimonious negotiations continued.

Sutherland said the impasse threatened next month’s tour of Bangladesh, the one-day series in India that follows and even the home Ashes series at the end of the year and it was “time to get the show back on the road”.

“We see the increasing need for urgency to get this matter resolved,” he told reporters in Melbourne. “We’re proposing in the short-term that both parties get together with really strong intent to get this deal sorted by early next week. In the event that it’s not resolved, we’re proposing any residual matters be sent to arbitration. We’re prepared to accept whatever decision comes. In cricketing parlance, we will accept the umpire’s decision and move on.”

At the heart of the dispute is CA’s insistence that the two-decade-old model under which players get a fixed percentage of revenue should be …read more