Dispute over player's payment could postpone Big Bash by 12 months

Cricket Australia's (CA) ambitious Twenty20 league, the Big Bash, could be postponed by a year due to several unresolved issues, the most important of them being players' payments.

Cricket New South Wales' chief executive officer David Gilbert said the dispute over players' payments cannot be overlooked.

"I just had this instinct it might be deferred for 12 months because there were a lot of unresolved issues and I suppose it was a worry we were rushing it, but clearly the opportunity is something that can't be ignored," Gilbert was quoted as saying by The Age.

The daily reported that CA and Australian Cricketer's Association (ACA) are at loggerheads over players' payment and that is hampering the start of the league. Eight city-based teams cannot recruit players until a memorandum of understanding is in place and state and national contracts allocated.

The ACA wants investment money included in the player payment pool, which CA is not prepared to grant. Talks are officially on hold, but CA chief executive James Sutherland said informal talks have brought both the parties closer.

"There is enough good will on both sides to find a way through this, we both need a positive outcome. We'd like to have Australian players, state players and Big Bash League players contracted as soon as possible and I'm sure on the ACA's side their members would like to know the status of their contracts as soon as possible as well," Sutherland was quoted as saying by the daily.