Australia’s tour of Bangladesh still pending on CA, ACA pay dispute
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Dhaka: Australia Test tour to Bangladesh is still pending on as the week-long negotiation meeting to solve the pay dispute between the Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) has been going on at a snail's pace starting on Friday last.
The talks between the two parties, led by CA chief executives James Sutherland (CA) and ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson, resumed in Melbourne on Wednesday to avoid major dislocation to the game, both in terms of commercial deals with sponsors and broadcasters, and also the Bangladesh tour in August, reports ESPN Cricinfo.
Steve Smith-led Australia team is due to arrive in Bangladesh on August 18 for a two-Test series in Dhaka and Chittagong.
However, the fortune of the tour is still pending on the resolution of Australian cricket's pay dispute which started with the expiration or the most recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 1.
The former Test speed star Mitchell Johnson has said, "If we lose this battle as players, does then the ACA start getting their legs chopped from underneath them and the players lose the ACA? That is the scary thing from my point of view."
"Cricket will still go on but I don't know what sort of input the players will have in the future. I saw Nathan Lyon this morning and I think he's as disappointed as everyone," Johnson added.
Meanwhile, the Tigers started their conditioning camp on July 10 in Mirpur, focusing on fitness development under the fitness trainer Mario Villavarayan ahead of the Test series against Australia at home and an away series in South Africa.
The Tigers will continue their fitness training until the head coach Chandika Hathurusingha returns to Bangladesh at the end of July.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced preliminary squad on June 22 while Cricket Australia announced the Test squad on June 16 for the tour which will start with a two-day (August 22-23) tour-match at Khan Saheb Osma Ali Stadium in Fatullah.
Bangladesh Squad(Preliminary): Bangladesh Preliminary Squad: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarker, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah, Liton Kumar Das, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subashish Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Sanjamul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Shaifuddin, Anamul Hoque Bijoy, Abul Hasan Raju, Al Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Muktar Ali, Tanvir Haider, Saqlain Sajib, and Shafiul Islam.
Australia Test Squad: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Matthew Renshaw and Matthew Wade (plus one fast bowler TBC)