CA and ACA agree terms to finally end player pay dispute

Melbourne: In-principle agreement signed after final round of face-to-face negotiations in Melbourne on Thursday morning

A deal has been reached to resolve Australian cricket's protracted pay dispute, paving the way for the nation's professional players to be re-contracted and for this month's scheduled Test tour to Bangladesh to proceed as planned.

The in-principle agreement was signed after a final round of face-to-face negotiations between Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland and his Australian Cricket Association counterpart Alistair Nicholson in Melbourne this morning.

Details of the deal and the new five-year Memorandum of Understanding that it underpins are expected be revealed at a formal media announcement, to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this afternoon.

The central sticking point throughout the sometimes rancorous stand-off has been the model by which the players are paid.

In previous iterations of the MOU over the past two decades, players have received an agreed portion of CA's gross cricket-related revenue but the governing body sought to modify that in the new agreement to allow it greater flexibility for much-needed investment in grassroots programs and facilities.