Adam Gilchrist said that he could relate to the ongoing tussle between the players and the cricket board.
Former Australia player Adam Gilchrist said that he can relate to the ongoing tussle between the players and the cricket board as he had faced a similar situation earlier.
Gilchrist said that the players are united in the cause. He found the circumstances similar to the time when the current revenue sharing model was introduced back in 1997.
“The players are sticking together with that unity, and that was certainly the case back then and I was a young player having my very first contract with Cricket Australia dangled in front of me, and here were my senior peers saying: ‘Don’t sign it, don’t break, don’t crumble’,” he was reported as saying by Fox Sports.
“And we didn’t, and 20 years later conditions are fantastic for players now. There’s no doubt about that. So that end result has been terrific. There’ll be an end, there will be an end to it.”
The current contract of the players expire on June 30, after which the players have threatened to skip the Ashes series against England, set to begin in November.
“We’re nearly at June 30, so that’s approaching quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been meeting in the last few days, the players’ association and the board. I think both sides are going to have to compromise,” added Gilchrist.
“If we are unemployed we have no contracts, we can’t play,” he told the media in England, where the side are playing the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
According to the current system, the players share 26 percent of the board’s revenue. Australia faces the possibility of an embarrassing player strike or lockout if the protracted negotiation over a new five-year pay deal for country’s international and state cricketers cannot be resolved by the end of June.
