Pay dispute threatens Aussies' Ashes home series

A drawn-out pay dispute might leave Australia without their top players in the home Ashes series against England later this year, says David Warner.

The Australian Cricketers' Association rejected Cricket Australia's pay offer last month, dismissing the proposal as "a win for cricket administrators but a loss for cricket".

The governing body has threatened players with unemployment, saying there would not be alternative contracts if they fail to agree to the new agreement.

Warner said he and his colleagues would "not buckle at all".

"If it gets to the extreme they might not have a team for the Ashes," Warner, currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), told the Age newspaper. "I really hope they can come to an agreement. We don't really want to see this panning out like that, where we don't have a team, we don't have cricket in the Australian summer.''

Teammate and left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc had earlier predicted "an interesting men's and women's Ashes" in a cryptic tweet, triggering speculation about a players' strike if they were not paid when the current agreement expires on June 30. Warner said the players were not really shocked by the CA stance.

"We thought something along these lines might happen. It has not come as a shock, just the fact that it has come so early," Warner said.

"We won't buckle, we are very strong. As you can see from the people who have spoken so far, we are all on the same wavelength."

Warner also ruled out signing three-year contracts that would keep him and other elite Australian players out of the lucrative IPL.

"It was quite laughable when I heard about it," he said.

"The security would be fantastic but you can't just stop people from playing other tournaments."