230 Australian cricketers may be unemployed

Shane Watson.

The Australian Cricketers' Association is preparing for about 230 players to become unemployed after declaring it highly improbable the sport's bitter pay conflict will be resolved by Friday.

Days after rejecting Cricket Australia's re-worked offer, players' union president Greg Dyer reiterated calls for CA chief executive James Sutherland to enter the stalled negotiations that have left players "dismayed" and appear set to impact upcoming tours.

The absence of Sutherland, currently in England at International Cricket Council meetings, has become the latest point of contention as both camps wait for the other to budge.

"It's fair to say we still remain a long way apart," Dyer said yesterday.

"It is extremely likely that as of July 1 we'll be jumping over the cliff together. Over 200 of Australia's most senior cricketers are unemployed as of July 1.

"We'll be looking for opportunities for them as we move forward but we see the urgent need to resolve this matter because that's the reality."

Last Friday, CA made the first move in the protracted stand-off by offering a greater share of international surpluses, included domestic players in its sharing arrangement and opted to increase annual pay rises to state players.

But the governing body refused to relent on its position that the existing revenue-sharing model was untenable, a sticking point for the players' union.

"The fundamentals of the deal are nowhere near resolved," Dyer said.

"We see the retention of the revenue-share model as being fundamental and we have not been able to engage sensibly.

"The players have been very flexible. They've said we can look at alternative ways of addressing that revenue-share model, but we've not had any response."

Long term, the situation has potentially dire consequences that could, at worst, lead to the Ashes being canned.

In the much shorter term, July's Australia A tour of South Africa is in doubt unless players accept temporary contracts.

Complicating matters is that many in the Australia A squad are on multi-year state contracts, meaning they'll keep being paid by Cricket Australia after June 30.

But Dyer said those multi-year contracts were "highly questionable" given they are based on the revenue-share arrangement that remains off the table.

He did suggest the ACA might consider temporary measures such as tour contracts to cover the Australia A tour and August's test tour of Bangladesh, but warned there must first be significant progress.

Meanwhile, retired test allrounder Shane Watson has cautioned of legal consequences should CA stand in the way of any unemployed players seeking to take part in overseas competitions. Should the chasm between CA and the players union remain, Watson predicts many players would look abroad for opportunities in one of several lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues in the Caribbean, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Even while uncontracted, they would require a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from CA to play elsewhere.

Watson, an ACA executive member, said a failure to provide NOCs could leave the governing body facing legal ramifications.

"For them to restrict my potential to be able to actually play and be employed somewhere else, there would be some pretty serious legal issues there," Watson said.