Australian cricketers preparing for unemployment: ACA president Dyer

ACA president Greg Dyer cannot see the impasse with CA being resolved before the weekend.

The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) has all but given up hope of reaching a payment deal with Cricket Australia (CA) before Friday's deadline.

Australian cricket is in a period of uncertainty after the ACA rejected an improved pay offer from CA last week and advised players not to sign new terms put on the table by the governing body.

As things stand, more than 200 players will be unemployed if the impasse is not resolved before the weekend, placing Australia's tour of Bangladesh in August in doubt as well as November's Ashes series.

Speaking on Tuesday, ACA president Greg Dyer told reporters: "Over 200 of Australia's most senior cricketers are unemployed as of the 1st of July.

"We will be assisting in whatever way we possibly can in that but they're unemployed. We'll be looking for opportunities for them as we move forward but we see the urgent need to resolve this matter because that's the reality. The players are unemployed. We will be jumping off the cliff together.

"It's fair to say we [CA and ACA] still remain a long way apart. The fundamentals of the deal are nowhere near resolved.

"We see the retention of the revenue share model as being fundamental from our perspective.

"The players have been very flexible, they have said we can look at alternative ways at addressing that revenue share model. We can be flexible but we have not had any response in return."

He continued: "It lacked detail, it lacked any sense of the method by which the thing was going to be calculated.

"It wasn't sufficient. We still lack the financial detail to properly assess where the players are likely to end up, so it wasn't an offer of acceptance and CA knew that."

Dyer also called on CA CEO James Sutherland to become involved in discussions with the ACA.

"It's the most important deal CA will do in five years, arguably longer," Dyer said.

"I don't personally understand why the most senior person in the organisation shouldn't be involved in setting those parameters on behalf of their organisation. I don't understand why he wouldn't be involved."