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SUNDAY CHRONICLE July 23, 2017
CA-ACA MoU compromise falls over By Daniel Brettig AUSTRALIAN cricket’s pay war has taken another turn for the worse after a compromise deal brokered between the two negotiating teams over the past week fell apart. Talks involving the CA chief executive, James Sutherland, and his Australian Cricketers’ Association counterpart, Alistair Nicholson, had made slow progress towards middle ground between two wildly divergent positions - namely CA’s intent to end revenue-sharing and the ACA’s desire to keep it. But ESPNcricinfo understands their tentative proposal has broken down, sending discussions all but back to square one. A CA spokesman strenuously denied that the deal had been rejected by the board’s nine directors, who have been kept abreast of events via regular teleconferences. Sutherland and Nicholson have continued talking. Time is fast running out to avoid major dislocation to the game in Australia. This includes mounting anxiety among both existing and prospective sponsors of CA, including the financial services firm Magellan, which has been in line to sign a deal as backer of the Test team ahead of this summer’s Ashes series but has held off
Cricket Australia chairman David Peever (left) and chief executive James Sutherland at the ICC annual conference IDI/Getty Images signing on the dotted line due to MoU-related uncertainty. At the same time, CA’s broadcast partners, Channel Nine and the Ten Network, are growing increasingly worried about securing their own advertising deals for the international season and the Twenty20 Big Bash League, respectively. It is believed that Australian cricket’s intricate web of commercial partnerships and related advertising and promotional campaigns will start to come apart should no agreement be reached by August 15. That date is significant, too, due to Australia’s looming Test tour of Bangladesh.
Selected players are due to convene in Darwin for a pre-tour camp on August 10 before the squad’s scheduled departure later in the month. There are mixed messages emerging about the likelihood of the Bangladesh tour going ahead. A customary pre-tour security visit involving representatives from both CA and the ACA will be going ahead as scheduled on July 24. However, it is believed the BCB has been informed it should be prepared for the possibility of the tour’s cancellation, much like Cricket South Africa were warned about the Australia A tour that floundered either side of the expiry of the previous
MoU. The ACA declined to comment publicly on the state of negotiations on Friday but is believed to be informing players of the fact that discussions may now take considerably longer than previously hoped due to the breakdown. More than 230 players were left out of contract and therefore unemployed when the previous MoU lapsed on July 1. They have now been joined in limbo by Australia’s women’s team, who were knocked out of the World Cup semi-finals by India, in England on Thursday, after signing short-term contracts in order to play out the tournament.(ESPN Cricinfo)
Panel to recommend next SA coach misses deadline, given extension CRICKET South Africa have given the five-man panel appointed to recommend a candidate for the position of head coach an extension until the end of the ongoing England tour. The committee, which includes former national coaches Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons, have “not completed their work” since being tasked with it on May 18 and could not meet Friday’s deadline, according to a CSA release. As such, no decision on the coach has been made. That means the South African team go into the final two Tests against England with continued uncertainty over who will take charge
Head coach Russell Domingo’s CSA contract expires after England tour from September. Current coach Russell Domingo’s contract expires at the end of
the England series. In January, CSA announced they would advertise the post but he could reapply. Initially, Domingo indicated he was unsure if he wanted to continue but confirmed his reapplication in July, ahead of the first Test against England at Lord’s. Domingo enjoys the support of several senior players including Test and T20 captain Faf du Plessis and ODI captain AB de Villiers, who has indicated his international future depends on who the coach is. Since team results improved last summer, when South Africa won all eight series’, Domingo was
thought to be the favourite to continue but a wretched Champions Trophy campaign put that in doubt. Lions’ coach Geoffrey Toyana is the front-runner to take over. South Africa’s domestic franchises are currently in pre-season training and if the new coach comes from one of those teams, it will leave them scrambling for a replacement when the new season gets underway. CSA have not provided reasons for the panel’s delay. After the tour to England, South Africa’s next assignment is a home series against Bangladesh, at the end of September.(ESPN Cricinfo)
Guyana’s Rohan Singh suffers disappointment but still stars with triple WINNIPEG, Manitoba, (CMC) – Guyana’s Rohan Singh landed three winners and missed out on a fourth through disqualification as he took the honours on Friday’s seven-race card at Assiniboia Downs. Veteran Singh won three on the trot when he clinched race three with favourite Hey Hey Run Away, race four with near favourite Menhal’s Lady and race five with odds-on bet Painted Honey. His disappointment, however, came in the day’s opener when he carried 2-1 chance Jack’sonaquest to a 2-1/4 length victory over the threeyear-old and upwards, going 7-1/2 furlongs. Stewards subsequently ruled that Jack’sonaquest had intereferred with second placed Fandango Grin on the final turn. Singh was placed second with Fandango Grin upgraded
Guyana’s Rohan Singh to first. Unfazed, Singh showed his quality as he then dominated the remainder of the card. His first legitimate win came when he combined with bay filly Hey Hey Run Away to trounce the two-yearold maidens by 2-1/2 lengths with a gate-to-wire effort. Going 4-1/2 furlongs, the pair sprinted clear of Smokin Bullet, duelled well after being caught in the stretch by the same rival before getting away again. Singh immediately followed up that victory by producing yet another front-running effort this time with five-year-old bay mare Menhal’s Lady to get the better of the three-year-old and upward maiden fillies and mares by 1-1/2 lengths. In a six-furlong trip, the duo beat No Name Just Fame and Ellie Mae to the first turn before pulling away to have it all their own way. There was no such ease in Singh’s final win over six furlongs. Paired with four-year-old bay filly Painted Honey, he was forced to battle with Silver City Ditty throughout before finally getting to the front at the sixteenth pole and taking the wire by 1-3/4 lengths.