County Cricketers To Take The Maximum Pay Cut In The Wake Of COVID-19

The proliferation of the World Health Organization-declared global pandemic that is the novel coronavirus [COVID-19] has wreaked havoc on the entire world. More than 80,000 people have succumbed to the pandemic while 15 lakh have been infected with the virus that originated from the Wuhan city of China.

With the entire world under a lockdown, economic ramification is an inevitability. And, we have started to see it in professional sports. With no live sports going on, sportsmen are coming forward to take salary cuts.

And, the latest to join the bandwagon is the English county cricketers. The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) on Wednesday announced that the county cricketers will take ‘maximum reductions’ in their salaries for the April and May pandemic.

“The Professional Cricketers’ Association is pleased to announce a collective player agreement that has seen all-county players agree on a support package to protect the domestic game,” PCA was quoted as saying by ANI.

It added: “Discussions between the PCA, ECB (England Cricket Board) and 18 first-class counties reached a conclusion today with all parties supporting an initial two-month agreement that will see maximum reductions to player salaries and relinquishing of domestic prize money,”

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PCA comes forward for pay-cut for the 2020 County Cricket season

The Professional Cricketers’ Association further added that it has also relinquished £1 million of the domestic player prize for the 2020 season. The statement revealed that the relocated funds will be used to support the introduction of standardized player contracts across the game, providing financial support to the players who leave cricket in 2020 and beyond.

“The agreement for an initial period of April and May will see players agree to be furloughed by their county if requested, and also taking a reduction in their remuneration in order to be consistent with reductions that have been made to other non-playing staff at their county,” the statement added.

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Meanwhile, PCA Chairman Daryl Mitchell thanked all the concerned parties for their collaborative effort in the wake of the current situation.