Cricket Australia has lodged a formal pay offer to players, refusing to back down on its push to scrap a fixed-revenue payment model that has been in place for almost 20 years.
The Southern Stars team that played the White Ferns earlier this year. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) have argued about several topics during pay talks, which will become more frantic and tense in the months ahead as the existing deal expires on June 30.
CA publicly revealed its offer for a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday, spruiking an immediate average pay increase of 125 per cent for female players.
The average pay for a Southern Stars player is set to jump from $79,000 to $179,000 under the proposal, according to CA chief executive James Sutherland. He added the average pay of domestic female players would rocket from $22,000 to $52,000.
CA claimed the average income for international male players, inclusive of match fees and performance bonuses, would be $1.45 million by 2021/22 under the deal, an increase of 25 per cent on 2016/17 ($1.16m).
"We have placed the emphasis on increasing the guaranteed amount that the men will receive, rather than rely on any projected increase in revenue," Sutherland said.
"We understand that the ACA prefers the status quo.
"CA believes that the model devised in the 1990s, which is based on a fixed percentage of revenue, has served its intended purpose.
"It was a means to an end - not something that has to hold us back from providing players with financial certainty, a fair deal for all players including women and the flexibility to invest in the grassroots of the game."
Sutherland added "we are confident we will be able to announce a completed agreement before June 30".
The ACA is yet to respond publicly to the offer. ACA boss Alistair Nicholson met Test stars in Ranchi before the third Test against India.
The most-divisive point in talks has been the governing body's desire to end the revenue-sharing model that has been in place since the first MOU in 1998.
The players' union called the system "the bedrock of the successful growth of Australian cricket" in its submission to players, which featured a preamble by national skippers Steve Smith and Meg Lanning.
