Sutherland extends olive branch to players

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has made the first conciliatory noises since player pay talks with the Australian Cricketers Association broke down last week, stating the two parties “have a lot more in common than they have not” and expressing hope for compromises in what are widely divergent positions at present.

CA have made it plain in their submission to the players that they want to break up the revenue sharing model that has existed for the past 20 years, limiting it to only the top 20 male players and excluding domestic cricketers and also women from a guaranteed share of the money earned by the game down under.

Other contentions, including questions over whether it is “appropriate” for CA to fund the ACA, have raised eyebrows among the players. Bitter exchanges of views over various clauses in women’s contracts culminated in the suspension of talks by CA last week, leaving the players’ delegation all dressed up at the board’s Jolimont headquarters with nowhere to go.

Having worked closely on the relationship with the ACA in the past, principally with the former chief executives Tim May and Paul Marsh, Sutherland said he was hopeful that talks would resume in the new year on a less adversarial basis after both sides had time to reflect on the past few weeks. Kevin Roberts, the former board director and now senior executive widely thought to be Sutherland’s likely successor, is leading CA’s delegation this time around.

“It was …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com