Greg Dyer, the head of the Australian Cricketers Association, has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the governing body, saying it was the union and its membership - and not CA - who were the "real protectors" of the game.

In a letter written to players in the ACA's Onside magazine, Dyer described the protracted negotiations as the "most difficult and troubling period" he had seen in his six years in the job.

A resolution was reached last month but not before more than 200 players were forced into unemployment, the cancelling of an Australia A tour and untold damage to the game - at home and abroad.

The new five-year memorandum of understanding was officially signed this month, with players receiving back pay to July 1 later this month, but there is still much angst between the sides.

The ACA is desperate for culture change at Jolimont so that the next deal will be negotiated amid a more cordial climate. Key figures from both sides of the bitter feud remain in their posts a month after the dispute reached its climax. CA declined to comment.

"It is now incumbent on the ACA to do all we can to ensure the likes of this negotiation process never happens again," Dyer wrote.

"There are questions to be asked within Australian cricket including governance, processes and decision-making areas, and the ACA stands willing to assist in improving the game in all areas."

The ACA remains upset players were forced out of employment during months of "intensely difficult negotiations", thanking them for the solidarity they showed.

"The favourable conclusion which was reached in relation to the five-year MOU renewal, however, is testament to what has long been obvious to me - that the ACA and its membership are the real protectors of the future of cricket and that the current playing group, men and women, international and domestic cricketers, are people of the highest quality," Dyer wrote.

"The players were unreasonably put to significant test but presented a united front. Their resolve was amazing. At no point in Australian cricket history has the entire male and female playing group been more united than it was throughout the process and as it is now."

Dyer paid tribute to the Australia A squad for their "significant cricketing sacrifice" in boycotting a tour of South Africa where they could have furthered their claims for international selection.

"It was a brave step and one every Australian cricketer, current and future, is indebted to that group for," Dyer wrote.

"And putting it bluntly, is a decision that they shouldn't have been forced to make.

"There's no doubt that the outcomes of these negotiations are to the benefit of the game and the development of cricket in Australia."