SYDNEY - An impasse with the players' union over performance-related pay has been overcome and a final agreement was imminent, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said on Friday. Fears of strike action had eased significantly following a breakthrough in talks between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association, Sutherland said ahead of a June 30 deadline for a new deal. "We work through issues from day to day and this is obviously a major one," Sutherland told reporters.
"It's challenging and it's complex and it's important, and I don't think either party expected to be able to walk through this easily. "We just were not able to work through the impasse and, fortunately, we've found a way through that in the last couple of days. "We're now in a very confident position of having an agreement."
CA chairman Wally Edwards said only details needed to be resolved between both parties. "The board today has considered a lot of the issues and there's just details now to be resolved," Edwards said.
Sutherland also spoke about scheduling issues with Pakistan over a limited-overs series likely to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates in August. The series will not be played in Pakistan for security reasons and Sri Lanka has pulled out as host because of commitments with its domestic T20 competition. "If the UAE was a preferred venue then, yes, it's a time of year when it is very hot and humid," Sutherland said. "We would expect both countries would have concerns about that and be doing everything they can to minimise that effect." Three ODIs and three T20 internationals have been scheduled and Sutherland said he had given Pakistan his board's assessment of venues in UAE and Malaysia and an announcement was expected next week.
England could rue Pietersen loss, says Windies coach
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has said both England and Kevin Pietersen himself could end up regretting the star batsman's retirement from international limited overs cricket. The South Africa-born Pietersen quit one-day duty for his adopted country this month when he was told by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) the terms of his central contract would not allow him his wish of abandoning 50-over one-day matches while still playing Twenty20 internationals. Pietersen had been settling well into the role of opener and ended his ODI career with back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan. But England will begin one-day life without him in a three-match series against the West Indies starting at Southampton on Saturday, with Ian Bell set to take Pietersen's place at the top of the order. Pietersen's exit comes as West Indies welcome back a star opener of their own in Chris Gayle, following the former captain's 15-month exile from international cricket due to a dispute with Caribbean cricket officials.
"If you look at when Gayle has been away, we missed our best player," Gibson said Thursday. "It's a big thing to lose your best player. KP has been good in the last two one-day series and they were trialling him at the top of the order. "It seemed it was going to work but now they have to put someone else in that spot and hope that person has the form KP had. "Bell is very different and he is also a very capable replacement. We know we still have to work to get him out."