CA signs pay deal with Oz cricketers to avoid strike

The agreement has ended any chance of possible strike action by the Australian One-Day team during the present tour of England because failure to forge the new deal would have meant the players were off contract and unprotected after June 30.

Two sticking points throughout the negotiations were CA8217;s model for performance-based contracts that were linked to results,and which funds should be included in the Australian cricket revenue stream.

A source told the Sydney Morning Herald that the deadlock was broken after significant across-the-board 8221;concessions8221;.

A breakthrough was achieved after CA decided to provide the ACA with 26 per cent of revenue from the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015,however,other points described as 8221;quite generous8221; included: The performance model increasing from 24.5 per cent to 27 per cent; The state pool retainer growing from 6 million to 7.8 million; The average state cricketer8221;s contract increasing from 55,000 to 65,000.

CA will use the announcement of the agreement,expected this week,to confirm it had reduced the number of its contracted players from 25 to 18.