adminMELBOURNE. – Australia’s cricketers union urged a swift resolution to a damaging pay dispute yesterday to avoid any strike disruption to this year’s Ashes series.
Cricket Australia last week threatened not to pay contracted players beyond the June 30 expiry of their current financial deal if they didn’t accept a new offer. The robust statement prompted warnings of a strike, with pace spearhead Mitchell Starc tweeting: “Makes for an interesting men’s and women’s ashes . . .”
Former Test all-rounder Shane Watson added his support by tweeting: “Well said @mstarc56. It will be an interesting game of cricket without any players.”
But the ongoing pay dispute might leave Australia without their top players in the home Ashes series against England later this year, vice-captain David Warner has warned.
Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) rejected Cricket Australia’s (CA) pay offer last month, dismissing the proposal as “a win for cricket administrators but a loss for cricket”.
CA has threatened the players with unemployment, saying they would not get alternative contracts if they fail to agree to the new collective bargaining agreement. Warner said he and his colleague would not “buckle at all”. – AFP.
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