Josh Hazlewood ready to wake up unemployed as CA contract deadline ends tonight

Cricket in Australia has plunged into crisis with Cricket Australia and Australian Cricketers’ Association not able to come to a common ground during their nine-month negotiations.

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood is ready to wake up unemployed on Saturday as the deadline to sign the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) ends on Friday night.

Josh Hazlewood debuted for Australia in June 2010.(Reuters)

“To be contracted for the best part of 10 years, nearly for me, it’s going to be a different stage and we’ll see how it pans out,” Hazlewood was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It (pay negotiations) never got to this point before in the past. It’s going to leave a bit of a bitter taste come that date (July 1) but we are, obviously, willing to do what we need to.”

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Hazlewood, who is ranked as the fourth most important player under Cricket Australia’s (CA) contract system, said he objected to CA’s offer to state-based cricketers.

“They always seem to point out the no crowds at Sheffield Shield cricket but they always leave out the Big Bash that draws in massive crowds every game,” he said.

“The Australian cricket team aren’t really a part of that to be honest. It’s solely domestic players with, obviously, a couple of internationals in different teams. But they provide a great spectacle. That six weeks is just thriving with crowds ... I think they would feel disrespected, definitely.”

Cricket in Australia has plunged into crisis with CA and ACA not able to come to a common ground during their nine-month negotiations.

READ | Contract set to expire between players, Cricket Australia

The contract limbo is set to hurt Australian cricketers’ pockets deeply as the CA has decided to allocate $1.2 million per fortnight (approximately Rs.6 crore) — the money which they would have paid to the contracted cricketers — to the National Community Facilities Funding Scheme (NCFFS).

“The NCFFS is an existing fund that supports the establishment of new and refurbished playing and training facilities at grassroots level across Australia,” CA said in a statement.

CA in its statement also slammed ACA’s non-cooperative approach. With the deadline set to end tonight, the CA urged the ACA to start the negotiation process afresh.

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“CA remains resolute that the fixed revenue share model must change in the broader interests of cricket. It continues to believe that a new MOU can be agreed in the near future if the ACA is prepared to acknowledge the magnitude and pace of change that is occurring and come to the table with a genuine spirit of flexibility. CA urges the ACA to do so with a renewed sense of urgency in the best interests of players and the game,” the CA stated.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald report said that the ACA will hold a crisis meeting in Sydney on Sunday to arrive at a decision on whether the Australia A side should tour South Africa in July.