Cricket Australia patches up with warring cricketers - details of the deal struck

Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) have finally come to an agreement that will end the long-running pay dispute between the two bodies. The row effectively left the country’s top stars unemployed.

Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association announced they had agreed a new pay deal “in principle” on Thursday, ending an acrimonious dispute that threatened a tour of Bangladesh and this year’s Ashes series.

Cricket Australia on Thursday agreed in principle to a Heads of Agreement with the Australian Cricketers’ Association that resolves key issues and provides the basis for a full MOU for 2017-22. (AFP)

The previous five-year collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30, which had left about 230 players effectively unemployed and forced the cancellation of Australia’s ‘A’ tour of South Africa.

“I think we’ve reached a good compromise, one we can both live with and one that will be good for the game and good for Australia’s cricketers,” CA chief executive James Sutherland told a news conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The immediate repercussions of the deal are that two Tests in Bangladesh will now go ahead in August and September with the Australia squad scheduled to gather in Darwin next week for a pre-tour camp.

Australia’s tour of Bangladesh later this month - as well as the home Ashes series with England beginning in November - were thrown into major doubt due to the pay dispute. (Cricket Australia/Getty Images)

At the heart of the disagreement was CA’s insistence that a two-decade-old model, under which players receive a fixed percentage of revenue, should be jettisoned.

Key features of the agreement include:

Player Payments Pool (PPP) (all male and female player payments and programs apart from Performance Pool):

- A modernised revenue sharing formula achieved by developing a Player Payments Pool to a dollar value based on external market benchmarks, internal equity and financial viability, and forecast cricket revenues.

PPP of $459m (would be the equivalent of 27.5% assuming ACR of $1.67bn).

- Includes Player development program increased from $7m-14m

Performance Pool (PP):

- Continues for the Australian men’s team on similar terms to the last MOU and extended to include the Australian women’s team.

Female player payments:

- Female player payments will increase from $7.5m to $55.2m.

Adjustment ledger:

- If ACR exceeds $1.67bn, players receive 19% of the upside to $1.96bn ACR and grassroots cricket receives 8.5%. Above $1.96bn, male and female players receive 27.5%.

- The Adjustment Ledger from 2012-17 will be paid out.

Additional grassroots funding:

- Up to $30m that would otherwise have gone to the PPP under the old model.

(With inputs from Reuters and Cricket Australia)