Christmas Without a Proper Cricket Test? It’s Happened Before

A contract dispute between the cricket establishment and the players has raised the prospect of something unthinkable — Christmas in Australia without a Boxing Day Test!

The good news is that the current dispute between the Cricket Australia and the players association is likely to be resolved before a long, hot, cricket-less summer.

However, the current dispute between the cricket establishment and the players is no trivial matter and has a ring of history to it.

On Open House we sought the view of one of the great custodians of cricket, Rodney Cavalier. Rodney is a cricket historian and author, being a long-time chairman of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust and a life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (Lords). He is also a former ALP Education Minister in NSW who, in that capacity, saw through many significant industrial disputes.

Our conversation included a quick sweep through the working class roots of the game of cricket in Australia and the two great schisms that have formed the game of today.