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MOU deadlock set to pass deadline

Around 200 domestic players set to be uncontracted as pay talks remain stagnant

With no resolution reached on a new Memorandum of Understanding that was due to take effect from tomorrow, Cricket Australia has announced the money that would have been paid to contracted players will be directed to grassroots facilities until a deal is signed.

The current MOU expires at midnight tonight, and in the absence of a fresh agreement around 200 cricketers – including the current Australia men's Test team – will be out of contract and therefore unemployed.

In calling for the Australian Cricketers' Association to enter into formal negotiations that are still yet to begin on a new five-year MOU, CA also confirmed that around $1.2 million per fortnight that would have been used to pay the contracted players will instead be invested in the National Community Facilities Funding Scheme.

The scheme was set up in 2014 to help deliver new and refurbished cricket playing and training facilities throughout Australia, with a current focus on ensuring amenities at grassroots clubs are suitable to support the participation of female players.

In acknowledging that a new MOU would not be agreed upon by the June 30 deadline, CA expressed disappointment in the ACA's unwillingness to consider modifications to the existing revenue share model that dictates player payments and which remains at the heart of the impasse.

As a result, the absence of an MOU means all professional players except for around 70 who hold multi-year contracts with state associations won't be paid until a new agreement can be reached.

"Over the past months CA has repeatedly sought to engage with the ACA in a genuine dialogue and to commence a proper negotiation process," CA said in a statement released around seven hours before the MOU deadline passed.

"It is regrettable that these efforts have been rebuffed, resulting in the current situation which CA recognises is not in the interests of either the players or the game.

"CA is concerned that many players will be without a contract from midnight tonight and this may place significant financial and emotional strain on them and their families. 

"It is unfortunate that the ACA’s hard line and inflexible position has not been conducive to delivering any positive outcomes or certainty for players."

It is expected a number of players will attend an extraordinary meeting on Sunday of the ACA executive – which includes former Test all-rounder Shane Watson and current national representatives Aaron Finch and Moises Henriques – to discuss the union's next move.

The ACA has already indicated players who have fallen out of contract due to the MOU impasse will continue to train with their respective state squads, while the full 14-man complement of players named for next month's Australia A tour to South Africa are expected to assemble in Brisbane on Monday afternoon to begin preparations.

It remains unclear as to how the proposed South Africa series, which features two four-day games followed by a limited-overs tri-series against the Proteas' and India's A teams, will be affected by the ongoing impasse with five of the Australia A squad to be out of contract as of tomorrow.

Read More: Players 'frustrated' with MOU stalemate

The remainder of the touring party hold multi-year deals with their state associations or Big Bash League franchises, and would therefore be in breach of those agreements and on strike should they opt not to take part in the tour unless a compromise solution can be reached.

Earlier in the week, ACA president and former Test wicketkeeper Greg Dyer indicated that temporary contracts – such as those signed by women's players to be paid for the duration of the current ICC World Cup in England – might provide a compromise to allow players to tour in the absence of an MOU.

But he added that significant progress in negotiations would have to occur prior to the squad's scheduled departure for South Africa on July 8 for that measure to be adopted.

"We're still so far apart it's difficult to imagine that's where we're going to end," Dyer said.

The MOU, a document of more than 600 pages that covers every detail of employment contracts between CA and around 300 professional cricketers (including, for the first time, women's international and domestic players), was due to take effect from Saturday.

Even though it contains a vast number of items on which both sides agree, no formal negotiations have taken place over its contents due to the ideological divide between the two parties.

Earlier this year, CA proposed a change to the player payment model that has been included in previous iterations of the MOU since it was first struck in 1997 and claimed the contemporary challenges facing cricket required a more flexible approach.

The ACA has staunchly opposed any shift away from the current model whereby players receive a share (around 25 per cent) of gross cricket-related revenue, and last April proposed an alternative whereby players receive a reduced (22.5 per cent) share of a re-defined, broader revenue pie.

Since that was rejected by CA in May on the grounds that it retained the "inflexible" revenue share principle, meaningful negotiations over a new MOU have stalled.

Last Friday, CA sent the ACA a revised proposal that included men's and women's domestic players to share in an increased (but unspecified) pool of surplus revenue as well as an elevated pay increase for domestic players.

The ACA has yet to formally respond to that offer but released a media statement later that day saying the new proposal remained "unacceptable" because it did not contain sufficient financial detail, although CA subsequently claimed detailed financial information had been provided earlier in the week.

"CA has been disappointed by the ACA’s unwillingness to consider the sensible and necessary change CA has proposed to the fixed share of revenue player payments model," today's CA statement says.

"The model was adopted 20 years ago to address the underpayment of players. 

"The game has changed fundamentally since then: players are now justifiably well rewarded and the modern challenge is the chronic under-funding of the grassroots of the game, particularly junior cricket.

"CA has also been dismayed that the ACA’s rhetoric, both publicly and directly to the players, has burdened the current generation of players with an unfair sense of responsibility for defending a decades old pay model that no longer suits the very different needs of the modern game. 

"The existing revenue share model has achieved its purpose and was never intended to be an heirloom passed down over the decades, never to be changed.

"The pace of change in the game has never been greater and the competition from other sports never more intense. 

"The key to cricket’s future is strong junior and grassroots cricket, an area of the game that urgently needs a better share of the game’s resources.

"CA is now asking elite players to make a contribution towards meeting this need, while still receiving very significant increases in pay and benefits over the next MOU period. 

"CA has also committed to finding savings from across its own operations to be redirected to the grassroots.

"CA remains resolute that the fixed revenue share model must change in the broader interests of cricket. 

"It continues to believe that a new MOU can be agreed in the near future if the ACA is prepared to acknowledge the magnitude and pace of change that is occurring and come to the table with a genuine spirit of flexibility.

"CA urges the ACA to do so with a renewed sense of urgency in the best interests of players and the game."

The ACA is expected to release a statement in relation to the MOU later today.