Max, Provincial 'A' cancelled as players reject NZC offer

New Zealand's cricket summer has been thrown into turmoil as the result of New Zealand Cricket's firm stance against the demands of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association.

The Players' Association rejected New Zealand Cricket's (NZC) final offer at 2pm today, two hours before the NZC deadline for the offer to expire.

Already off the agenda are the season-opening State Max competition and the Provincial A (second XI) tournament scheduled for the New Year.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden admitted that if it meant putting a below-strength side on the field for the upcoming series against India then that would be what would happen.

"I have sent a very clear signal that we have reached the end of the bargaining process," he said.

Snedden rejected Players' Association claims that approaches had been made to two players before the Players' Association press conference today.

Snedden said he hadn't approached anyone and didn't know anyone who had.

He added that he had no concerns with the way NZC had handled the negotiation process and in reply to criticism from the Players' Association that he had lifted the debate into the public arena, he repeated again that their action in going on strike had been the first step in going public.

Snedden said he made the material public because he wanted the issues understood and he also wanted the players to have access to NZC's side of the story.

In response to Players' Association claims that the World Cup agreement that the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to be signed was an issue in the negotiations, Snedden said that he didn't accept that the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) had a role in the New Zealand negotiation.

He did agree that there were problems with the ICC agreement but added that FICA and the ICC were working on the issues involved. Snedden did say that before the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka he had told the New Zealand players if they were disadvantaged through signing the agreement he was prepared to look at compensation. But none had shown that they were disadvantaged.

Snedden confirmed that when the anticipated money came in from the ICC's contract with Global Cricket Corporation the players would be remunerated. But to commit to paying the money out before it was received completely disadvantaged everyone else in cricket, he said.