After their World Cup bubble was burst by India, the realisation of an uncertain future is beginning to sink in for Australia's women cricketers.
With Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) no closer to rubber-stamping a new memorandum of understanding, the female players joined their male counterparts on the unemployed list on Friday following their shock semi-final defeat 24 hours earlier.
Although the existing MoU expired on June 30, Meg Lanning and her players signed a bridging contract to allow them to defend their World Cup crown but that deal concluded immediately after India's 36-run win at Derby.
That loss to Mithali Raj's side also cost the 15-player squad a cheque for $416,000 guaranteed to the finalists, with the winners picking up a cool $830,000 for their efforts.
Elyse Villani, Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen and Kristen Beams will stay on in the UK to play in the Kia Super League, England's domestic T20 competition.
But for the rest of the squad the future lies in the hands of negotiators who are still no closer to nutting out an agreement to end the impasse that has enveloped the sport for nine months.
"I'm pretty lucky in that I'm staying on for the KSL so I kind of don't have to worry about it for another five or six weeks," Villani said.
"It's going to be quite interesting for when the girls head back home and we're hit with reality a bit.
"We've been letting it go on in the background, not paying too much attention to it. I think it's going to be pretty interesting when the girls get back."
Perry said she did not know how close CA and the ACA are to an agreement nor had she been involved in any negotiations but praised the two bodies for the support they have been given in England for the World Cup.
"I don't think that's (negotiations) been a role of mine," Perry said.
"Meg's been very proactive from the female point of view and some of the other senior players but being over here we haven't really spoken about it.
"We feel like we've got wonderful support from both Cricket Australia and the ACA. I'm sure something will be worked out in the near future.
"We haven't been updated about it whilst we've been here, we haven't thought about it so I actually don't know where it sits at the moment."
