In a press conference on Thursday, Cricket Australia CEO Jmaes Sutherland declared CA will take the pay dispute to an independent umpire if an agreement cannot be reach by next week.
In response to CA's press conference, the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) slammed Sutherland's suggestion that there must now be urgency, stating "without the presence of the CA CEO, the ACA has for three months been calling for independent mediation".
"In the event of no agreement being reached the ACA believes mediation is the right process to resolve the dispute because it is non-adversarial, voluntary and faces no jurisdictional constraints.
"Cricket Australia has lost the players and most of the game's stakeholders in the process."
Vice-captain David Warner has also hit back at Cricket Australia after the organisation accused the players of endangering the upcoming summer of cricket.
"Myself and all the other players female and male want to get out there and play", Warner posted to his Instagram account with a photo of himself in a test kit.
“We offered $30m of our money to grassroots as a peace plan. It was ignored.
“We asked for mediation twice before and it was rejected. Now CA says there is a crisis.
"The players are unemployed and some are hurting financially but continue to train. Administrators all still being paid.
“How is it our fault no deal is done.”
While the dispute rolls on, one thing is certain. the fans simply want to see some cricket this summer, particularly with the Ashes just a few months away.
