Retired Test allrounder Shane Watson has warned of legal consequences should Cricket Australia stand in the way of unemployed players seeking to take part in overseas competitions.
With a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) highly unlikely to be struck by Friday's deadline, about 230 of Australia's most senior cricketers are set to become free agents.
Should the chasm between CA and the players union remain, Watson predicts many players would look abroad for opportunities in one of several lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues including in the Caribbean, Bangladesh and South Africa.
Even while uncontracted they would require a no objection certificate (NOC) from CA to play elsewhere, as is the case for players and boards in other countries.
Watson, an Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) executive member, said a failure to issue NOCs could open the governing body up to big legal ramifications.
"If Cricket Australia knock back an NOC that's a significant restraint of trade as well," Watson said.
"In the end I've got a Big Bash contract. Of course, I've got to get an NOC signed.
"For them to restrict my potential to be able to actually play and be employed somewhere else, there would be some pretty serious legal issues there."
CA declined to respond to Watson's comments apart from stating it would continue to assess requests on a case-by-case basis.
Watson said "it would be a disaster" if the crisis dragged on long enough to disrupt Australia's preparations for the summer Ashes series.
"Because in the end, everyone wants the best players playing all the time for Australia ... especially in the lead-up to the Ashes series," he said.
"The dream of any Australian cricketer is to play in that series. If the lead-up doesn't go to plan because the players aren't able to play high-quality cricket, we certainly don't want to give the English an upper hand.
"The players certainly don't want that and I'm sure Cricket Australia don't want that either, but where things are at at the moment is not great."
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