Australia player strike threatens England tour

Australia player strike threatens England tour - ESPN.co.uk

Australia's cricketers will fly out for a one-day tour of England and Ireland on Thursday knowing that time is running out for a new pay deal to be signed. Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) were due to resume negotiations on Thursday as they aim to find common ground on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the existing agreement to expire on June 30.

If a new MoU is not completed by then, Australia's players will need to decide whether to play on - they will have four ODIs remaining against England in early July - or call a strike. Australia's Twenty20 captain and one-day batsman George Bailey, who is also a member of the ACA executive committee, said the players remained hopeful that they would not be put in such a difficult position.

"The players still have full faith that the ACA and CA will be able to sort out the differences they have at the moment and come to a conclusion," Bailey said. "Whenever there's talk of a strike I think that's very much a last, last resort. It would be a disaster if both the ACA and CA got to the stage where that had to occur. I've still got full faith that both parties will be able to rectify that in the next few days."

It is not just the national players who could be affected by the ongoing failure to reach a deal. State cricketers have been left in limbo, not knowing whether they will have a contract for next season and unable to negotiate a move interstate, as Cricket Australia has banned any player movements until a new MoU is agreed.

That has left a number of domestic players with no choice but to train with their existing state in the knowledge that they might not be part of the squad next summer. Bailey, the captain of Tasmania, said it was a difficult situation for some players, particularly those on the fringes of the state system who did not know what their immediate future would hold.

"There's players who are in a position where they aren't sure whether they should be training because the reality is they might not be playing for Tassie in a few months," he said. "It's that balance of should they be looking for work or should they be talking to other states, who actually aren't allowed to talk to them at the moment. It's a bit of a challenge for those guys.

"They're probably the guys you feel for most, the guys at the domestic level who are in limbo, not knowing where they're going to be playing, who they're going to be playing for, and the state associations are looking at who they're going to recruit, who they're going to contract. At that level you can understand the state associations are starting to get pretty frustrated and players would be wanting to know what's going on. It's probably less so at the national level."

The Australians begin their tour with a one-off ODI against Ireland in Belfast on June 23, before a five-match series against England from June 29 to July 10. The squad features several men who are returning after spending time out of the national side, including the fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Johnson, neither of whom have played for Australia since the tour of South Africa last November due to injuries.

The allrounder Steven Smith is also back in the mix, having been overlooked since the one-day portion of the South African tour in October. The bowlers will be under the guidance of Ali de Winter, the Tasmania assistant coach, who has been seconded to the squad as temporary bowling coach.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here

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Cassano thrilled to share in EURO carnival - UEFA

In a season in which his career almost came to a sudden and premature end, Italy striker Antonio Cassano is thrilled to be contesting a UEFA European Championship he once thought beyond him, telling UEFA.com: "I want to make the most of it."

Antonio Cassano has come a long way in eight months. In October last year, while flying back from a Serie A match against AS Roma, the AC Milan striker suffered an ischemic stroke. He was subsequently told he would have to undergo heart surgery and that his career might be over, so to find himself returning to the Rossoneri lineup in April and subsequently earning a place in Cesare Prandelli's UEFA EURO 2012 squad is not something he took for granted.

"I'll tell you the truth – at first I thought I would quit football for good," Cassano told UEFA.com. "Then, slowly but surely, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I hoped until the very end that I would make it to this EURO. It came true and now I want to really make the most of it. I'm going to give it everything I've got."

As Italy's top scorer with six goals during their unbeaten qualification campaign, Cassano has become a key player in a side committed to a more free-flowing brand of football, and 'Fant'Antonio' believes he is flourishing under Prandelli's tutelage. The Azzurri coach stuck by the former AS Bari and Real Madrid CF forward through the dark days, insisting he would wait as late as possible to give him every chance of coming to Poland and Ukraine.

"I like Prandelli a lot both as a coach and a person," said the 29-year-old. "He loves talking to you; he explains everything. He's a very well-prepared and well-organised coach and right from the start he made me feel a very important part of the team. When the person who is in charge places such great trust in you, it boosts your confidence and you always try to give your best."

Cassano gave his all for the 65 minutes he was allocated against Spain, coming close with a shot across goal in the first half, but with Antonio Di Natale coming on for Mario Balotelli and scoring, will the Cassano-Balotelli partnership be broken up Afor the match against Croatia? "The hierarchy is not decided in the press or anywhere else," said Cassano. "It's decided by the coach. Against Spain we played well, but the whole team did. Me, Mario, 'Totò' [Di Natale], even [Sebastian] Giovinco when he came on.

"We have five strikers who are important to the cause. Whoever plays must play well. Hierarchies mean nothing. Obviously, I always want to play for as many minutes as possible. But the coach is the one who decides and he is very good at seeing who is in good condition and who isn't."

With nine international goals, 30 Italy caps to his name and his 30th birthday less than a month away, Cassano is one of the elder statesmen of the side, but playing for Italy clearly remains a huge honour for the man who made his Azzurri debut in 2003 and whose wife and son were spotted in the crowd in Gdansk sporting Italy shirts and cheering him on.

"If I'm more mature now, it's because I'm [nearly] 30, but I still feel like a child inside," he said. "It's normal that things that happen to you along the way, like what happened to me at the end of October, leave a little mark, but they also really make you appreciate what's important in life."

For now, though, what is most important to Cassano is Thursday's Group C test against Croatia. Indeed, despite his recent travails, it is clear that the Milan striker has lost none of his competitive edge. "The match against Croatia is crucial for us, and it is for them too. We must try to find a way to win and continue the good work we started against Spain. After that match, we have realised we can take on anyone and go all the way."

Italy V Croatia : UEFA Euro 2012 Match Preview - Football

Published: 14 Jun 2012 - 12:16:36

Prandelli mulling over Di Natale-Balotelli switch

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has admitted he is considering dropping errant forward Mario Balotelli in favour of Antonio Di Natale for Thursday's Group C clash with Croatia in Poznan.

Italy need a victory to ensure they tackle Ireland in their final group game with their destiny in their own hands.

They began with a positive 1-1 draw against world champions Spain but Croatia then beat the Irish 3-1 to move top of the group.

Failure to beat Croatia would mean Italy needing to beat Ireland in their final game in Poznan and hoping the result between Spain and Croatia does not cost them.

"What counts in the choices is the nervous and physical sate of the players," he said.

"The next training sessions will be real ones and those will show me (who's in form), as will scientific data.

"This will be the decisive match of the group. The idea is not to change too much so that we have consistency.

"It won't be easy, it will be decided by details."

In the opening game, he opted for a back three with wing-backs Christian Maggio and Emanuele Giaccherini working tirelessly on the flanks.

But he also admitted he hadn't decided who would start up front.

"I don't know yet, we will try to understand who used the most energy," he said.

"We have to exploit those who are in good form.

"We will play against a very different team (Ireland), they will put us in difficulty and it's perhaps even harder because they are unpredictable.

"They can change their system from one half to another so we need to prepare with a lot of attention."

"We have no fear" - Bilic

Prandelli sung the praises of Di Natale, the goalscorer against Spain, while speaking of Balotelli's need to think more about helping the tam rather than trying to win games on his own.

It suggested a change up front is afoot, but Prandelli did offer some encouragement to the 21-year-old Manchester City forward.

"When a player knows he's messed up he needs to know that he has another opportunity that next time he can do the right thing," said Prandelli.

Prandelli also crticised Balotelli for not getting behind the Spain defence while praising Di Natale for doing exactly that, not only with the goal he scored but wth another chance as well.

The pressure is on Italy as they play opponents with two more points than them.

And Croatia coach Slaven Bilic says his side only need one more win to reach the quarter-finals.

"We have three points, and we're top of the group," said Bilic.

"One win would be enough to go to the quarter-finals. We cannot fly in the championship, but let's go step by step.

"We respect all of our opponents. We have no fear against anyone. Spain and Italy are favourites in our group, but I still think we are able to beat one of them."

Should they do that, they will be in the last eight while Italy would need to beat Ireland in their final game and hope Spain slip up somewhere as well.

Italy V Croatia - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.