AUSTRALIAN cricket’s players’ association has officially made the call to boycott the Australia A tour of South Africa.

Test hopefuls headlined by Usman Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell will forgo the chance to push their Ashes claims thanks to cricket’s ugly pay dispute which continues to drag on.

Despite the international opportunities on offer to them if they toured, the Australia A squad has made the unified decision to stick in solidarity with more than 200 out of contract players around the country and cancel the tour.

Australia A captain Usman Khawaja will now not lead a side to tour South Africa. Source: AAP

They want to send a message to Cricket Australia that they are demanding progress.

Cricket Australia brought forward a deadline to make a call on the tour, although no one was expecting the tour to take place after the ACA made a strong stance last Sunday on not playing until an MOU was in place.

Australia A players have been training all week in Brisbane in the distant hope that the parties could come to an agreement, however the camp is now set to be disbanded.

There’s been months of mudslinging in this dispute, but this is the first significant impact on Australian cricket.

Players’ future opportunities as well as Australia’s Ashes hopes have now been potentially jeopardised by this ever-escalating crisis.

There will now be renewed fears for Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh which is scheduled to take place in late August going ahead.

The players have made it clear that they will not tour unless progress is made — which from their point of view means Cricket Australia coming to the table on a revenue share model.

The Cricketers Association have renewed their calls for CA chief James Sutherland to immediately involve himself in negotiations.

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“By making this call, the Australia A players have sacrificed their own ambitions for the collective; an incredibly selfless act that shows their strength and overall commitment to the group,” said an ACA statement.

“All players are deeply disappointed at the behaviour of CA which forces this course of action, given the players would rather be playing for their country.

“CA refuse to attend mediation or offer any genuine flexibility in the MOU negotiations.

“And without mediation it’s hard to see how there can be the progress necessary to reach agreement.”

Cricket Australia later hit back at the ACA’s decision by claiming that negotiations had progressed enough this week that the tour should have been allowed to go ahead.

According to CA, chief executives Sutherland and Alistair Nicholson have been in regular contact.

ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson had warned a boycott was likely earlier in the week. Source: AFP

CA said it was “disappointed” the players had made the call to abandon the tour and will donate the $250,000 the tour was set to cost to grassroots cricket.

“Cricket Australia is disappointed players have today confirmed they are unwilling to take part in the Australia A tour of South Africa,” said a statement.

“CA has never and would never attempt to compel any player to represent Australia at any level if they were unwilling to do so.

“While a new MOU has not yet been agreed, CA is of the view that these talks should have enabled the tour to proceed as planned.”