Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has reportedly threatened that players won't be paid beyond June 30 unless they accept the governing body's proposed overhaul of player remuneration.
According to Fairfax Media, Sutherland on Friday sent an explosive email to Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) chief Alistair Nicholson. CA then forwarded it to players around Australia.
The email casts doubt on what team Australia could field after June 30, with a two-Test series scheduled in August in Bangladesh, ahead of this summer's home Ashes showdown.
Sutherland has not been involved in bitter pay talks but has written: "CA is not contemplating alternative contracting arrangements to pay players beyond 30 June if their contracts have expired.
"In the absence of the ACA negotiating a new MOU (memorandum of understanding), players with contracts expiring in 2016-17 will not have contracts for 2017-18 ... that players with existing multi-year state or Big Bash contracts would be required to play in 2017-18 even if a new pay deal is not struck; and that if a new MOU was not agreed ..."
The ACA on Friday had moved to enter mediation with CA over the pay negotiations, which show no signs of resolution.
Sutherland told Nicholson: "The ACA is fast running out of time to engage with CA's proposal and optimise the outcome for players.
"In the coming weeks, CA and states will be making contract offers to players," Sutherland's email stated. "The terms of these contracts will be consistent with CA's proposal, and contracts will be conditional on a new MOU being in place."
Australia's top cricketers effectively will be free agents from July 1 unless a peace deal is somehow struck, extinguishing the possibility of the current MOU being rolled over for another year or for series-by-series contracts to be struck.
Sutherland accuses the ACA of having "unfairly placed current players in a difficult position.
"I understand that some have been made to feel that accepting the relatively minor but necessary changes to the existing pay model, while being paid more, would somehow be 'letting the side down'," Sutherland wrote. "This is nonsense."
