Johannesburg — TONY Irish, the CEO of the South African Cricketers' Association (Saca), said yesterday the cancellation of the Champions Trophy limited overs tournament in Pakistan did not amount to a dramatic increase in player power.

Irish was reacting to weekend media reports describing the cancellation of the tournament, on the basis of security fears, as a result of players flexing their muscles. "It was not that dramatic," said Irish yesterday. "Rather, it was an indication of the increased involvement -- in four countries at least -- of the players' representative associations in the decision-making procedures.

"Safety has always been an issue in which the various cricket boards and their players' associations have consulted closely and this decision was simply a manifestation of that."

With Saca having signed a memorandum of understanding with Cricket SA last year, Irish was loath to see confrontational language describing the cancellation of the Champions Trophy.

"What comes out of this is proof of the fact that players' associations have become quite involved behind closed doors in decisions affecting players."

He said the relationship between the boards of Australia, England, New Zealand and SA, and their respective players' associations, was improving all the time.

He reacted in a lukewarm way to suggestions that the Champions Trophy decision might lead to players' associations getting tougher with the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme (FTP).

"There is already an agreement between the ICC and Fica (the Federation of International Cricket Associations) on guidelines for the FTP," said Irish.

"Where a board wants to go outside those guidelines, perhaps to arrange an extra tournament, they have to consult the players' associations. But in the formulation of the FTP, associations are involved.

"There are things like swapping two one-day games for one Test -- that sort of thing, on which we have agreements.

"Of course we always feel that the player workload is too high. But we feel that we are controlling it to an extent."

Irish said his relationship with Brian Basson, CSA's GM of cricket affairs (and the man responsible for working out CSA's cricket fixtures), was good. "We are working well together and we consult a lot. I am quite happy with the situation."

He said there was a delicate balancing act between taking the players' needs into account and the needs of individual boards to earn revenue.

"It has to be understood boards need to create revenue-earning opportunities and, as long as that does not lead to the overburdening of the players, we have to be understanding.

"But to now say that the players are going to start flexing their muscles after getting the Champions Trophy postponed is just a bit dramatic as far as I am concerned."

Former England cricket captain Mike Atherton, a Cambridge University graduate, wrote in the Sunday Times at the weekend: "That the players have a strong voice and are no longer subservient to the self-serving committee men is a good thing.

"For too long players filled vast stadiums, performed for a pittance and then went and ran pubs or spent their remaining days flicking through scrapbooks. Now they are forcing administrators' hands, not just picking and choosing their options but agitating so that matches are arranged for their financial benefit."