Cricketers ‘wrong’ not to tour South Africa

Former Australia coach John Buchanan says Australia cricketers were wrong to pull out on the tour of South Africa.

The Australia Cricketers' Association (ACA) said the players were unavailable to tour South Africa for the Australia A team without an agreed pay deal or new Memorandum of Understanding, after their existing contracts with Cricket Australia expired on June 30 following months of increasingly acrimonious wrangling.

John Buchanan says players missed a chance to enjoy the moral high ground.

In a talk with Fairfax media, the former coach said: “Given the lack of communication between ACA and CA, I can completely understand why the players, via the ACA, decided not to tour.

“In my opinion, though, this was the wrong decision to make by the ACA for a range of reasons, one of which was the capacity for players to play cricket and press their respective cases for higher selection.

“It is an absolute honour to represent your country. This privilege should never be taken lightly as it is not about the person selected but about who and what they represent.

“I am disturbed by what I hear as there seems little flexibility from either side. At the same time, I understand there is some movement behind the scenes which will, hopefully, lead to CA and ACA moving to the negotiation table," Buchanan concluded.