The male cricketers will suffer a 20% reduction in salary but salary of the women players will remain unaffected when the Hundred tournament, an ambitious project of the England and Wales Cricket Board, is held next year.
The men and women players will also be paid 11.5% of what they were promised this year after the Board was forced to defer the inaugural season of due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new 100-balls-per-side format, to be played by eight teams in separate men’s and women’s tournaments, was scheduled to be held between July 17 and August 15 but will now be held in 2021.
The decision was reached after negotiations between ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
“We have been working closely with the PCA to agree player contract terms to cover this season and next,” an ECB spokesperson told the BBC.
“The men’s players have agreed to a 20% reduction in 2021 salary bands and we are grateful and heartened by their support of the competition as our sport looks to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19.”
The salary cut in men’s competition for next year applies to the price brackets from £30,000 to £125,000.
The governing body, however, decided not to cut the salary of the women cricketers for next year which ranges from £,3600 to £15,000.
“It has been important to us not to see cuts to women’s player salaries, and these remain unaltered for 2021,” the spokesperson said.
The ECB conceded that factors like how much domestic white-ball cricket is played in the UK this summer, the allocation of England central contracts, the availability of overseas players and if Kolpak players remain in the English game into 2021, will determine if a new draft will be required.
(with PTI inputs)
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