“The ECB are continuing to prepare for the Ashes as planned”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced that unless the ongoing pay dispute in Australia is resolved, they won’t send the Test team Down Under for the Ashes in November.

The Australian players, who are being represented by the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), and Cricket Australia have been embroiled in a payment impasse for a couple of months, and it has led to the players becoming unemployed as a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could not be agreed upon by the June 30 deadline.

Things have become so bad that the players who were supposed to represent Australia A have withdrawn from the tour of South Africa.

Despite the frosty relations between the players and Cricket Australia, the ECB are confident that the Ashes will go ahead.

“The ECB are continuing to prepare for the Ashes as planned,” a spokesman for the board said. “We do not anticipate any change and fully intend to fulfil our Tour obligations.”

Cricket Australia echoed the ECB’s sentiments, saying: “We are 100% confident that the Ashes will go ahead.”