There are two factors that show Australia's cricketers have for some time been willing to dig in for the long term in regards to its pay stoush with Cricket Australia.
Australia's upcoming tour of Bangladesh, due to begin on August 17, was thought a couple of months ago to be something to sacrifice if need be and is now in major doubt. Though they have been told to prepare as if the tour is happening, players have long been reluctant to tour Bangladesh due to security concerns.
At the same time the Australian Cricketers' Association has quietly sounded out Rich Listers to see if they would contribute to the player fighting fund, presumably with some sort of payback when the dispute ended.
And so on it goes, with cricketers, administrators, broadcasters and prospective sponsors wondering when the two parties will strike a deal and assure that this summer's Ashes series will go ahead.
Not that Cricket Australia could be mistaken for moving at express pace either, with its chief executive James Sutherland only officially joining the talks with the Australian Cricketers' Association in the past few weeks.
Olive branch
But Sutherland tried to inject some urgency into the situation this week with the offer to send the dispute to an arbitrator to decide once and for all which side wins. The olive branch of sorts came with a sweetener in the form of short-term contracts that would ensure the cricketers would be paid, and also tour, until the arbitrator released their ruling.
Cricket Australia's board met on Friday and are waiting to hear from the ACA regarding the schedule for further negotiations to take place over the weekend. The two sides are not far apart in dollar terms now, with Cricket Australia offering a $450 million player payment pool over five years and the ACA countering with terms worth an estimated $480 million.
Yet the players are insisting that a set percentage of gross revenue that has flowed to them for 20 years remains in the contract. Hence the suggestion of an arbitrator to achieve a breakthrough, with a deadline of close of business on Monday set by Sutherland for the ACA to accept the offer.
But an even more important deadline is not far away: a planned six-match limited-overs tour of India in October.
Cancelling that tour would be a financial disaster given the huge sums of money Indian broadcasters pay for rights and would come at a delicate time for both administrators and players. Indian TV executives are understood to be nervous at the prospect of a cancellation and also the pay dispute.
Indian money
Cricket Australia is yet to clinch a deal with Indian TV for this summer's Ashes series, which would usually bring a hefty amount of money into its coffers given the huge demand for cricket on the sub-continent.
The players, meanwhile, would ordinarily be the beneficiaries of a big lift in the salary cap for the lucrative Indian Premier League, and would not want to put relations with Indian administrators at risk.
Cricket Australia also needs an quick agreement to get sponsorship deals signed and advertisements with players filmed, while the players are currently going without pay.
Matches played on sticky wickets usually end quickly, but this one could drag on for some time yet.
