Australia 'might not have a team for The Ashes' says David Warner

David Warner fears that Australia may not have a team for the biennial Ashes series against England this year amid the recent remuneration controversy.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland wrote in an email to the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) that the sporting body would not pay cricketers, whose contracts are expiring, beyond 30 June if they do not abide by their new payment model.

Since 1997, CA have paid their cricketers through a revenue-sharing player payment model, however, it will now be dumped for a new system that will see players paid a set amount not tied to revenue as of the new financial year.

The email also stated that players with "existing multi-year state or Big Bash contracts would be required to play in 2017-18 even if a new pay deal is not struck".

Australia vice-captain Warner claims that he and his fellow cricketers predicted something like this would happen, but they are with the ACA.

"We thought something along the lines of this might happen ... it's not come as a shock, but more the fact it has come so early," Warner said, as quoted on The Age. "We won't buckle at all, we are standing together and very strong, and as you can see from all the people that have spoken so far, we are all on the same wavelength."

"We want a fair share and the revenue-sharing model is what we want, so we are going to stick together until we get that. We are not going to shy away; we are just going to stick together."

However, the 30-year-old hopes that CA and the ACA come to an agreement sooner rather than later as there is a possibility that Australia may not have a team for the Ashes that takes place later this year.

"If it gets to the extreme they might not have a team for the Ashes," he added. "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 [and] we don't have cricket in the Australian summer.

"It is up to CA to deal with the ACA. It's obviously in their hands."