The AP was joined by Reuters and Agence France-Presse in a global news coalition which will not be covering the three-Test series against the West Indies starting in Brisbane on Thursday. The news agencies also refused to cover the 2008-2009 series in Australia involving South Africa and New Zealand.

A similar dispute in the 2007-08 season between CA and the three agencies was settled after coverage was suspended for the first Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka.

Cricket Australia and news agencies have been discussing the latest accreditation terms for several months.

Cricket Australia has demanded the right to see the agencies' lists of clients and to veto any they decide should not receive pictures and text coverage of the tests. It also wants to impose limits on the number and frequency of text and photo updates for Web sites and on the duration of images in photographic archives.

"Once again, Cricket Australia is standing in the way of full and impartial coverage of a major sports event despite a growing consensus, even in Australia, that sport belongs to the public and not to governing bodies," said Simon Haydon, the AP's International Sports Editor.

Click here to read the full report, posted on iol.co.za.