Bray highlights issues facing Associate players

Jeremy Bray, Ireland's opening batsman, has branded the Irish Cricket Union's efforts at turning the game professional 'a joke'. Bray opted out of Ireland's weekend ODIs against India and South Africa, having also been unavailable for a large part of the Friends Provident campaign, because of family commitments and admits his future is in doubt.

"I was a bit tired and needed a rest", he told the Sunday Tribune, "at least that was the initial plan. But it's hard to get to training because I live so far away. My wife has her own hair salon business so organising childcare has become a big issue. The reality is that it costs me money to play for Ireland."

Since Ireland returned from the World Cup there has been much talk of Ireland turning professional and negotiations are well advanced, but Bray isn't impressed. "It's just a joke", he said, "But I'm not surprised - that's the Irish Cricket Union for you."

Bray has spoken to Ireland captain Trent Johnston about the situation but is still uncertain about the future. "I hope it doesn't get to me giving it all up, but we need to get it all out in the open and see what's on offer."

Warren Deutrom, the ICU chief executive, who has been a driving force being the quest for a professional set-up responded to Bray's comments and said the delay isn't because of a lack of effort.

"The fundamental issue is that we can't complete and finalise the contracts for the players until we know we are able to satisfy what they are requesting in terms of additional monies," he said. "We can't do that until we know how much of a budget we have, and we won't know that until this current series of games is completed. It's a vicious circle.

"Do we want to be able to pay the players? Absolutely, of course we do, and it's the fundamental route to success. I know there's a significant degree of frustration among the players, and I completely understand that. We have met with the players on a number of occasions, and will continue to do so.

"We've managed to get many of their issues and concerns out into the open. A lot of the players are prepared to be patient until they know of the final financial result. Obviously we're trying to do our very best."

Johnston has also been vocal in his call for a professional structure in Ireland. Following the match against India on Saturday he said: "We've got to have professional contracts put in place so players can get back to the standard we set in the West Indies. Four months we were away playing cricket and you could see in our performance over there we were a much better team."