Test aspirant Chadd Sayers is frustrated, disappointed and in disbelief about the cancellation of this month's Australia A tour.
Sayers was one of the players with the most to gain from the trip to South Africa; national selectors are yet to name a replacement for injured paceman Mitchell Starc in the Test squad that is meant to tour Bangladesh next month.
The swing specialist was named 12th man of the Test side last summer, when he also grabbed 62 first-class wickets to be named Sheffield Shield player of the season.
But instead of building his case for a baggy green after spending the better part of a month in Brisbane, Sayers is returning home for pre-season training with South Australia.
Australia A squad members voted at an emergency Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) meeting last Sunday to boycott the trip, unless there was meaningful progress in the pay saga.
Sayers is stunned that Cricket Australia (CA) didn't do more this week to fast-track protracted talks.
"They didn't want mediation," he told radio station 5AA.
"They're fully against this revenue-sharing model.
"I can't believe they wouldn't want us to be playing cricket and going to South Africa.
"The ACA has been great ... we've been back and forth on teleconferences all week.
"They went back in to discuss this week and they thought they were getting somewhere then I think yesterday (Wednesday) it got slapped back in their face .. it's obviously very disappointing and frustrating."
CA expressed disappointment about players' decision to boycott the trip on Thursday, arguing there had been progress in talks during the previous three days.
"These talks included regular communication between CEOs," CA noted in a statement.
"While a new MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) has not yet been agreed, CA is of the view that these talks should have enabled the tour to proceed as planned."
CA and the ACA remain deadlocked over the issue of revenue sharing. The governing body is desperate to scrap the model that has shaped players' salaries for 20 years.
Sayers insisted players had to pull out of the tour.
"It's not fair if blokes like us go over and get paid to play cricket when there's blokes back at home, and younger guys back at home, not getting paid to train," he said.
"So we had to make a stance and hopefully Cricket Australia can come to the party soon.
"We're not being greedy ... we're not asking for any more, we've actually gone down a few per cent in that model."
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