England men’s centrally-contracted players will make a contribution of ₤500,000 to the England and Wales Cricket Board and chosen good causes, the Professional Cricketers’ Association has announced.
Players are to bypass the equivalent of 20 percent of their retainers for the next three months to fund the gesture.
Furthermore, centrally-contracted members of the women’s team have announced a voluntary decrease in their wages for April, May, and June in line with those taken by coaches and support staff.
The statement follows several days of discussions over how the nation’s leading cricketers may react to the pandemic.
The contract was reached during talks between members of the England team on Friday, with the possibility of more action to come.
A PCA statement stated: “The players will continue to discuss with the ECB the challenging situation faced by the game and society as a whole and will consider how best to support the ECB and both the cricketing and wider community going forward.”
The information on the charitable contribution is to be figured out over the next week.
England women’s captain Heather Knight stated: “All the players felt like it was the right response in the present environment to take a pay cut in line with what our support staff is taking.
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“We understand how the present situation is impacting the game, and we want to assist as much as we can. We will be talking about with the ECB even more ways we can assist the game in the coming weeks.”
The statement from the players follows the ECB’s chief executive Tom Harrison announced earlier today he was offering a 25 percent decrease in his wage as part of more extensive cost-saving procedures, with similar moves expected throughout the county game.
Harrison stated the coronavirus might posture “the biggest challenge in the history of the game.”
Some ECB staff will be asked to carry out a furlough period under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, while other staff members are to be consulted on a decrease in wages for two months.
Jos Buttler this week decided to auction the t-shirt he used during the final stages of last summer’s World Cup final win to raise money for two London hospitals.
