The South African Cricketers' Association will discuss the possibility of a player strike at its board meeting on Friday, after a second breach of commercial rights by Cricket South Africa. On Wednesday, the SACA commenced a formal process against CSA for using the names and images of players in a fantasy league game related to the Mzansi Super League (MSL), without acquiring the rights to do so.

This follows a dispute last month when the SACA launched a dispute into CSA's delay in paying commercial rights fees from the inaugural edition of the MSL in 2018. The money, understood to be around R 2.4 million (USD 165,000 approx), was paid more than a year late and three CSA employees - interim director of cricket Corrie van Zyl, COO Naasei Appiah, and head of sponsorship and sales Clive Eksteen - were suspended for alleged dereliction of duty in not handling the payment more efficiently. The SACA insisted CSA CEO Thabang Moroe was also involved.

Now, with a second commercial rights infringement, SACA members will be asked to consider what the organisation calls a "very last resort", in taking industrial action against CSA.

"SACA has called a meeting of its Players Executive Committee and its Management Board for Friday 6th December 2019," Tony Irish, the SACA CEO, said in a statement. "At this meeting, we will again be discussing the manner in which SACA and the players are being treated by CSA. This discussion is likely to include the possibility of the players taking some form of industrial, or protest, action.

"SACA has always considered strike, and other similar forms of industrial action, to be a very last resort and in SACA's 17 years of dealing with CSA to date not one day of cricket has ever been lost to industrial action."

Irish said the SACA made repeated attempts to engage CSA over the fantasy game, including requesting CSA to consult with its anti-corruption unit to ensure the players are distanced from any association with betting. Their efforts, according to the SACA, have been ignored.

"SACA has requested CSA to obtain clearance from its anti-corruption unit to ensure that this use of players in a pay-to-play game does not in any way constitute an association of the players with gambling, or encouragement of betting practices, which are not permitted under CSA's anti-corruption code. As far as we know this request has been ignored by CSA," Irish said. "This is yet another instance, in a growing line of instances, where CSA has flagrantly disregarded our agreements and, over the last week or so, failed to address SACA's resulting concerns. We now feel that enough is enough."

The SACA's relationship with CSA has never been more strained with disputes dating back to early 2018. CSA delayed the negotiations of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SACA, which essentially lays out the terms and conditions for player contracts, and the old MOU expired three months before a new one was completed. The SACA also claims CSA did not consult it about a proposed restructure to the domestic system which will see the six-team franchise set-up done away with and 12 provincial teams installed in their place, effectively removing an entire tier of domestic cricket. The SACA believes around 70 cricketers will lose their jobs and have taken CSA to court, demanding the organisation shows cause of the restructure. The case is ongoing.

Also on Friday, the SACA will decide on a new CEO, with Irish's last day at the organisation scheduled for December 13. Irish is relocating to the UK, where he will head up the Professional Cricketers' Association, and leaves after 17 years with the SACA, at a time when South African cricket is in crisis.

Events of the last few weeks have seen widespread calls for the CSA board and CEO to step down following issues ranging from revoking the accreditation of journalists without cause, to the delay in appointing a director of cricket, and to CSA's financial woes. CSA previously said it is planning for a R 654 million (USD 45 million approx) loss in the next four-year cycle but SACA put the figure closer to R 1 billion (USD 69 million approx).

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