A lot of hard work lies ahead of the negotiating parties representing New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association when they resume their discussions in Wellington tomorrow.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden said there was clearly a key philosophical difference between the two sides that will be focused on over the next few days.

Snedden said he was quite pleased that the Players' Association (NZCPA) had made their background paper and response to NZC's offer available to the public through the cricket web site cricinfo.com.

"They are entitled to do what they have done," he said.

Snedden explained NZC's position.

"My philosophy is that when we are deciding to allocate resources we have to strike a balance in the interests of all players in New Zealand.

"The Players' Association are a little bit different. They expect NZC to look after the international and first-class players first without taking into account the other obligations NZC has.

"It is an important difference," Snedden said.

"We have a long way to go. They have put a fairly positive spin on their response to our offer," he said.

NZC was going into the discussions keen to strike some key agreements and was prepared to work hard to do that, he said.

With the players having withdrawn their services for the month of October only, Snedden said he would expect that if the issues were not resolved this week, and that is also the aim of the Players' Committee according to their press statement today, it would be business as usual on November 1.

© CricInfo