Australian players could face six month bans for playing unsanctioned matches

What’s the story?

The Australian team players and their Board, currently at loggerheads regarding the pay dispute, might have to face the prospect of missing out on the Ashes, and serve bans if they take part in any kind of ‘disapproved cricket’.

"Players cannot play in ICC approved cricket (including domestic T20 competitions of other cricket boards) without approval from Cricket Australia. Players who participate in disapproved cricket (including exhibition matches) are not permitted to participate in ICC approved cricket for a minimum of six months thereafter", said a mail from Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s team performance manager.

In case you didn’t know…

June 30 is the deadline for the players and Cricket Australia to reach a middle ground on the new Memorandum of Understanding. Neither of the two parties has shown any sign of changing their stance on the disagreement, which stems from Cricket Australia's resolve to end the new revenue model, and the Australian Cricket Association's stubbornness to retain it.

The heart of the matter

Pat Howard sent out a warning to the ACA as well as the state associations, stating that the board will ban players for a minimum of six months

The CA will also ponder upon whether the players should be issued No Objection Certificates (NOC) to represent T20 teams abroad, but only after scrutinising every case one after the other. Even uncontracted players might have to bear the brunt.

What’s next?

It remains to be seen if any of the players will have a vocal response to the same, with the deadline fast approaching and both sides still sticking to their resolve. Howard has clearly written that anyone, whose contract expires after June 30, will not be an employee of the state associations, CA or a W/BBL team”.

Author’s Take

The Ashes is set to start in November and go on until January, but a ban of this sort will prevent all players, who play exhibition games, from getting a call-up to the side. This will also prevent them from playing different T20 leagues in the world, including the CSA T20 tournament, a series for which more than 400 players have given their names.

Hopefully, the issue gets resolved quickly, for the players are too valuable an entity for the sport to be embroiled in issues with the board, something which has already deflated the level of the game in West Indies’ case.