David Warner has got on the front foot over the players' pay dispute with Cricket Australia, declaring that this summer's Ashes series is in jeopardy if their demands aren't met.
Pay talks between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) have stalled following months of proposals and posturing, with the June 30 deadline fast approaching.
Warner was blunt in his views after CA chief executive James Sutherland said Australia's top cricketers might find themselves unemployed if the ACA refused to budge from its position of wanting to retain the revenue-sharing model.
"If it gets to the extreme, they might not have a team for the Ashes," the Australian vice-captain told Fairfax.
"I really hope they can come to an agreement... we don't really want to see this panning out like that where we don't have a team, we don't have cricket in the Australian summer. It is up to CA to deal with the ACA. It's obviously in their hands."
Warner, who's in India preparing to captain his Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL elimination final, added that Australia's top players could turn to Twenty20 tournaments overseas if CA cut them loose.
"If we don't have contracts we are going to have to find some cricket to play somewhere else ... otherwise we don't get paid," Warner said.
"A few boys might go over to play the Caribbean Premier League and I think there could be some of the England Twenty20s on as well."
ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson wants to start independent mediation in an effort to kickstart the stalled discussions, but Warner believes there won't be room to move over their revenue-sharing stance.
"We won't buckle at all, we are standing together and very strong," Warner said.
"We want a fair share and the revenue-sharing model is what we want, so we are going to stick together until we get that."
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