England players unassertive on accepting ECB’s pay cut proposal

While the world is suffering from the Coronavirus pandemic, all the sporting activities have shut down with some getting postponed and some getting canceled. During this time of crisis, all the athletes from every sport are contributing to their part to help in combatting the coronavirus. 

Yesterday, England’s Wicket-Keeper batsman Jos Buttler raised funds to help two London based hospitals by putting his World Cup Finals Jersey as while other players also donated a from their end to help their countrymen. 

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have decided to not start their season until June-July this year and no game shall be played in the country due to the coronavirus. The ECB is set to lose over £300 million ($3.72 mn) due to no cricketing activities in the country. 

While the Board also announced the $ 61 million support package in tackling the ongoing crisis, they also requested the players of taking a 20 percent pay cut from their salaries in order to deal with the financial challenges that are arising due to the coronavirus. But the players have now refused for their pay cut proposal from the ECB. 

In a letter of Professional Cricketers’ Association chief Tony Irish, Harrison expressed his concerns on the long-term impact of the pandemic.

“The pandemic is the biggest challenge the sport has faced in the modern era although the full extent and impact of the pandemic on cricket is as yet unknown, it is already clear that it will be extremely significant,”  Harrison wrote.

“We can only estimate the total financial impact on the game, which will not be clear for some time, but by way of offering an indication of the potential scale of the loss to the game, losing an entire cricket season – which is not an outlandish scenario – will cost cricket in England and Wales well in excess of 300m,”He further added. 

ECB has seen its reserves going down to 11 million in 2018-19 season from 73 million pounds in the 2015-16 season. With no cricket being played in the coming months and added expenses due to the coronavirus, it can have a bad impact on the Balance sheet of the ECB in the coming times.