Players' union blasts CA over pay motives

Cricket Australia is peddling falsehoods about player motives in the pay dispute, the players' union says.

Australian Cricketers' Association chief Alistair Nicholson says CA is accusing players of wanting to run the game.

"It just not true. The players want to play," Nicholson said in statement on Saturday in the latest tit-fot-tat in the pay stalemate.

"But it's also true they have a voice and it's right they are heard.

"To be consulted, yes. To be managers, absolutely not.

"We have conveyed this message ad nauseum to CA. It seems to be a truth inconvenient to preconceptions about the players and the ACA.

"And its clearly been a major stumbling block to progress over the last year."

Nicholson and CA chief James Sutherland are trying to break an impasse over the next pay deal for the nation's cricketers.

About 230 cricketers effectively became unemployed when the previous agreement expired at the start of the month.

Nicholson said the players were justified in seeking greater consultation, yet recognised the role of CA as the administrator.

"At any rate what matters now is that talks do progress," he said.

"That is my immediate and only focus.

"The instructions from the players to the ACA could not be clearer: we want to play the game we love and we want a fair deal for men, for women and for grassroots cricket.

"The players are more resolute than ever."