Cricket Australia (CA) has been accused of betraying South Africa on the eve of their high-stakes three-Test series.
Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) President Greg Dyer hit out at CA and the England Cricket Board (ECB) for choosing to "sidle up" to India instead of teaming up with South Africa in the ICC power struggle.
Dyer accused CA and the ECB of short-mindedness in their bid to join forces with India and control world cricket under a proposed new governance model.
The ACA has come out in staunch support of the international cricketers' association, who are lobbying for a 'no' vote when the proposal is considered by the ICC board in early February.
Dyer said the world's No.1 Test team, South Africa, were being victimised by India - and had been left stranded by Australia.
"The timing of the proposal is notable, opportunistically leveraging significant tensions which currently exist between India and South Africa," Dyer wrote in an open letter.
"Those tensions primarily relate to personality (Indian boss N Srinivasan and South African counterpart Haroon Lorgat), but they have provided an opening.
"The opportunism of England and Australia joining forces at this very moment with the BCCI, to the exclusion of the current number one nation in Test cricket, is short-mindedness in the extreme and a massive betrayal of their respective bilateral relationships with South Africa.
"Instead of teaming with South Africa to attempt a better balance against the power of India, England and Australia have chosen a different bedfellow.
"One can only wonder how the Australian contingent will be received by South African cricket when it starts its upcoming tour."
Dyer said the "self-centred" attitude of Australia and England risked diminishing the standard of the international game, particularly Test cricket, by ostracising the smaller nations.
The ACA conceded the ICC, in its current structure, has failed in its role of developing the game.
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