CSA under pressure to reach player agreement

Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) is under pressure to settle on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) before the end of the month.

The current MOU, which dictates the revenue sharing model between CSA and the players, expires at the end of April and while suggestions have been that it will remain unchanged beyond then, there have been no official discussions as yet. 

Now, the clock is ticking. 

An article in the Sunday Times this past weekend quoted SACA president Tony Irish as being "extremely concerned" at CSA's lack of engagement on the issue. 

The article further suggests that, should the MOU not be finalised before the end of the month, a large percentage of South Africa's cricketers will start May unemployed. 

Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, CSA's acting CEO Thabang Moroe acknowledged that he could not put a definite date on when the new MOU would be finalised.

"If we can possibly seal the MoU in a week, then we will strive for such but that all depends on the negotiations," Moroe said.

Moroe, who has been in the acting CEO role since the departure of Haroon Lorgat in September last year, is also tasked with determining whether or not the T20 Global League will be launched in 2018. 

South Africa's answer to the IPL and Big Bash was due to have its first edition in 2017, but those plans were scrapped with the absence of a broadcaster sparing financial concerns. 

CSA had initially set a deadline for the end of March, this year, for a decision on the Global League but that date has been pushed back to the end of May.