Pay dispute leads to Australia A’s South Africa tour boycott

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Negotiations between CA and ACA failed as the latter decided to pull Australia 'A' out of their upcoming tour of South Africa © Getty

Australian cricketers will boycott Australia A’s imminent tour of South Africa as the impasse between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) continues.

The boycott was inevitable after a resolution on a new pay deal failed to be brokered by the bickering parties before the June 30 deadline. Australia A’s squad – headlined by Test fancies Usman Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell – was due to fly out to South Africa on Friday (July 7).

Despite the opportunities that would have beckoned by touring, the Australia A squad has shown solidarity with about 230 players across the country officially unemployed since July 1. Australia A players had been training in recent days in Brisbane in case of an unlikely breakthrough but the squad is now set to be disbanded.

Players were reportedly informed of the decision during training on Thursday morning (July 6) and meetings have been set up with management to discuss what lies ahead.

In a statement released on Thursday morning, the ACA said it was with “great frustration” that the tour had to be cancelled. “This decision is made in support of more than 200 male and female players who are now unemployed, and is consistent with Sunday’s ACA Executive meeting resolutions,” the statement read.

“By making this call, the Australia A players have sacrificed their own ambitions for the collective; an incredibly selfless act that shows their strength and overall commitment to the group. All players are deeply disappointed at the behaviour of CA which forces this course of action, given the players would rather be playing for their country.

“CA refuse to attend mediation or offer any genuine flexibility in the MOU negotiations. And without mediation it’s hard to see how there can be the progress necessary to reach agreement,” it further read. “The players want to make sure all men and women who play the game are treated fairly, and that grassroots funding is not drained by a top-heavy bureaucracy. The ACA again calls on common sense to prevail and for the CA CEO to attend mediation.

The next major juncture is Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh, which starts in August but is likely to be called off unless a new pay deal is struck. Players are determined to keep the current revenue-sharing model, which underpinned the Memorandum of Understanding for the past 20 years, but CA want to overhaul it in a bid to distribute funds more widely.