Solutions should be sought collectively to avoid pay-cut for English cricketers, feels Tony Irish

The Covid-19 pandemic has put the England domestic calendar on halt and the ECB now have been involved in regular meetings with stakeholders. The board has advised the counties on furloughing their employees under the UK government's job retention scheme which employers to place their staff on temporary leaves of absence, during which time the government will pay the lower of £2,500 a month or 80% of their salary.

While Glamorgan and Yorkshire have already furloughed the majority of their non-playing staff, and others are likely to follow the same path. As per the current plan, the ECB will put a series of proposals to the players' trade union and to counties in their emergency financial package, it seems apparent that most clubs will use the government's scheme to safeguard a significant saving when revenue has fallen off a cliff.

"We are aware that COVID-19 is having a very significant impact on cricket and that solutions need to be found for the challenges that we all face. It's an unprecedented time filled with uncertainty and naturally that brings lots of speculation. Much of that currently is around furloughing of players and wage cuts for players," PCA chief executive Tony Irish is quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.

"We believe that solutions should be sought, and where possible agreed, collectively. We understand that recommendations or proposals will be put to us during this week. We will work through those with the players and then with the ECB and the first-class counties with a view to seeking agreed solutions."

While recent news reports suggested that England's centrally contracted players might have their pay cut to help ensure that the game can survive the crisis, a PA news agency reported that the terms of their contracts mean any such move would have to be a voluntary one.