Ian Chappell compares Cricket Australia pay dispute to Donald Trump's leadership
Sydney: Former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell has criticised Cricket Australia (CA), saying that the board was looking to reduce the wages of the overpaid first-class cricketers.
The former right-handed batsman, who is currently a cricket commentator and pundit, compared the pay dispute to United States of America President Donald Trump’s leadership.
“CA won't want to forfeit any of those lucrative Ashes opportunities. If CA doesn't have a deal in place before the commencement of the Ashes series, then Donald Trump's won't be the only leadership style I find mystifying,” Chappell was quoted as saying in ESPNCricinfo.
The pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the Aussie cricket players are getting worse day-by-day. With Australia A already deciding to boycott their South Africa tour, and England threatening that they may not travel to Australia for the Ashes later this year, Australian cricket is in crisis.
The Australian cricket players had earlier refused to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of a newly proposed revenue model, the deadline for which expired on June 30.
As of now, the Australian cricketers are technically unemployed.Chappell also commented on what could happen, if this situation persists.
“Now that the June 30 deadline for a new MoU has passed and the Australia A invitation to tour (of) South Africa has been declined by the players, there are three events that could cause a deal to be agreed,” he added.
Ahead of the Ashes series in November, Australia were also scheduled to tour India for an ODI series in October.
“The next period of interest will be the ODI tour to India in October. It’s highly unlikely CA will want to aggravate the BCCI by cancelling that tour, so look for a deal to be in place by then or else the tour is likely to be rescheduled,” the 73-year-old further added.
He also stressed on the fact that both Cricket Australia and the Australian cricketers needed to co-operate on the issue.
“There has to be a certain amount of trust and respect on both sides for it to work successfully. Neither the trust nor the respect is visible at the moment,” he concluded.
