There is no obstacle to proceeding the two-match Test series between Bangladesh and Australia as the Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) on Thursday signed an agreement to an end the ugly pay dispute.
The in-principle agreement was signed after a final round of face-to-face negotiations between CA Chief Executive James Sutherland and his ACA’s counterpart Alistair Nicholson in Melbourne this morning, reports cricket.com.au.
Australia’s Test team is due to fly to Dhaka on August 18 to begin their two-Test tour of Bangladesh, having spent a week of intensive preparation at a training camp in Darwin that is scheduled to begin late next week.
The first Test (August 27-31) will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital’s Mirpur while the second Test (September 4-8) at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.
The ACA had resolved at a meeting last month that none of the nation’s 300 professional cricketers would make themselves available to participate in matches organised by CA until agreement on an MOU was signed.
A deal has been reached to resolve Australian cricket’s protracted pay dispute, paving the way for the professional players to be re-contracted and for this month’s scheduled Test tour to Bangladesh to proceed as planned.