Cricket: Contract time - once more into the breach

It's time to re-stock the bunker, black out the windows and dust off the steel hats. Yes, we're afraid so - New Zealand Cricket and the Players Association are about to re-start contract talks.

The last time the two parties came together it took the country's first players' strike, several bouts of mediation, daily mud-slinging and a season-threatening standoff before a four-year deal was hammered out.

By that stage, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming had fallen out with chief executive Martin Snedden, players' association spokesman Heath Mills had been forced to distance himself from negotiations, and a rift had formed between Chris Cairns and some of his team-mates.

The contracts will not expire until the end of next May, but the two parties are expected to meet formally within the next few weeks to begin discussions about the players' pay and conditions.

Snedden said he was confident there would be no repeat of the tension that dominated the inaugural negotiations in 2002, when the players' association was a fledgling entity.

"The co-operation between the association and NZC is healthy and constructive and I'm sure that will continue into the next round of contract talks," he said this week while visiting Auckland.

"The two parties have been working closely together for four years now and I think there's a huge improvement in terms of trust. That's probably been the main development."

Mills, sacrificed on the altar of the 2002 pay talks at the behest of NZC, was also positive, saying he was hopeful the relationship forged since 2002 would stand the association in good stead.

"It was a bit stormy last time," Mills agreed. "But you've got to remember that at that stage we were fighting for our survival as an organisation, and there was subsequently more at stake for the players.

"I think it's fair to say there's a lot more understanding between the parties now and that the initial obstacles faced in 2002 have been largely overcome. We're looking forward to a positive exchange."

Mills said he wasn't free to release details of the players' demands, and refused to say if his organisation would press for an increase in the player-payment pool.

The association won significant gains during the 2002 crisis, forcing NZC to set aside 23 per cent of player-generated income for national and provincial cricketers.

The problems looming this time involve NZC's waning performance over the last year (when they suffered financial losses from Sri Lanka's aborted visit), and projected losses from next month's cancelled Zimbabwe tour.