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Cricket must avoid another pay spat: ACA

(Wiki Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
3rd August, 2017
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Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer says the sport must ensure there is no repeat of the acrimonious pay spat that threatened to bring it to its knees.

The ACA and Cricket Australia (CA) signed an in-principle agreement on Thursday, ending almost a year of negotiations and ensuring this summer’s Ashes will proceed as planned.

Players will pocket almost $500 million over the next five years, with women included on the same Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as men for the first time ever.

Talks between the union and governing body were never amicable and rarely private. There was no shortage of mudslinging and revenue-sharing rage that bubbled publicly between the warring parties.

“Like anything worthwhile it’s been hard to achieve,” Dyer said.

“Yes, we’ve arrived at a great place but the game must never again take this same route.

“The players did not choose this route and did not enjoy being on it. In fact, the players resented it deeply.

“This was not a fight the players started. The players defended themselves as is fair and as is their right.”

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Next week, when the Test squad assemble in Darwin for a training camp, will be the first indicator of what the partnership between players and CA is now like.

“That will take some time,” ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson said, when asked if relationships had been repaired yet.

Skipper Steve Smith, who will lead his side in this month’s two-Test tour of Bangladesh, struck a conciliatory tone on Twitter.

“Great to get a deal done! It’s been a long and challenging process and it’s great that we can now get on with playing the game that we all love,” Smith posted.

“I’d like to thank the ACA for negotiating on behalf of the players and I’m excited that we can all start working together to continue to grow our great game.”

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