MELBOURNE,  June 8: Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland says he is “surprised and a little bit disappointed” at a players’ union response to a pay offer that could see the country’s top players 80 million Australian dollars (US$78.5 million) better off over the next five years.

The current pay deal between CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association expires on June 30, and Sutherland said on Friday that as that deadline looms the parties are “further apart than we would like to be.”

He said Cricket Australia wants to introduce a new performance-based pay system, which on conservative estimates would see players share $80 million more over the next five years than in the preceding five year period.

“We have put a very substantial offer on the table. It’s in the vicinity of $80 million more over a five-year period than what we paid in the preceding five-year period.

“And $80 million is a lot of money and that is based on our conservative revenue projections. If we go halfway towards meeting our more optimistic ambitions with revenue growth, that increase in player payments will be even more significant than $80 million,” he said.—Agencies