Ian Chappell, centre, believes Cricket Australia can certainly find the funds to put an end to their war with the players.

If Cricket Australia want to free up more funds for grassroots cricket, test legend Ian Chappell believes it should look at the income of staff before the pockets of players.

Grassroots funding has been one of the points of the clash between CA and the players' union during protracted pay talks.

The governing body says community clubs are suffering because of the revenue- sharing model that has existed since the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed 20 years ago.

CA chief executive James Sutherland wrote in a News Limited column earlier this year that the model "risks starving other vital parts of the game" and must be tweaked to address the "chronic underfunding of grassroots".

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"CA are saying they want more money to feed into grassroots. I don't have a problem with that," Chappell told reporters at Nine Network's marketing launch for the Ashes.

"If they really want to find money for grassroots, I could find some money for them. Because if Cricket Australia isn't overstaffed, I'm a Dutchman."

The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), in its proposal to CA, wanted 22.5 per cent of the sport's revenue to go towards grassroots cricket.

This would include a five-year, A$119 million (NZ$124m) fund to put towards junior and community cricket.

Former test opener Ed Cowan, who has been among the ACA's vocal backers throughout the saga, raised questions about CA's spending during his combative interview with Michael Slater on Monday.

"They've proven in the past they don't spend money in the right areas," Cowan said.

"We go back to club cricket, we've got kids that run around in grassroots cricket, we know the struggles that are going on and we want more money invested there.

"But when you look at a company with 450 employees and a huge marketing department and a huge media department, we think 'where does this money go?"

Some 230 cricketers are currently unemployed because the previous MoU expired last week.

Instead of providing backpay to out-of-contract players, CA will direct those funds to community cricket. The governing body expects the sum will be A$1.2m (NZ$1.25m) per fortnight

The upcoming Australia A tour of South Africa is set to be scrapped because of the impasse, which will affect the Ashes if it does not end in the next few months.

Chappell admitted some state players were probably overpaid but it was important to note the role domestic cricket plays in churning out stars for the national side, who continue to be CA's greatest asset.

The former Australia captain added that CA risk losing more talent to football codes if domestic wages aren't high enough.