England stars not exempt from ECB cuts, admits Chris Woakes

NICK HOWSON: The governing body have announced a series of cost-cutting measures and it remains to be seen if central contracts are also affected

• ECB fearful of £200m losses
• Women's Hundred contracts renewed
• Sussex counting the cost of COVID-19

Chris Woakes admits England's central contracts can't be spared from the range of cost-cutting measures being implemented by the ECB to tackle the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government body believes the crisis will eventually see at least £200m lost from the game and have acted accordingly to streamline their own finances.

Sixty-two jobs have been cut and a 20 per cent reduction to their workforce budget has been taken. Further measures could yet be in the pipeline.

Among those could be a reduction in the annual central contracts awarded to senior players which are up for renewal at the start of October. 

Sixteen players were awarded deals for 2019-20, with two incremental contracts additionally issued. Three further players were then offered specialised deals last January.

Test players currently earn £650,000 per year, while white-ball stars are paid £275,000, according to The Mirror. Multi-format players such as Ben Stokes are paid in the region of £925,000 before bonuses are taken into account.

At the start of the summer, England players donated a combined £500,000 to their employers and selected charities. But since the gesture estimates over the financial problems suffered by the game having multiplied.

England cricket central contracts: What is an increment contract? Who has a central contract?

The Team England Player Partnership group are currently negotiating terms for the men and women's teams with the ECB. Though the central contracts will not necessarily be affected, Woakes - a dual-format player - has not ruled out the players taking matters into their own hands.

"There are a lot of people behind the scenes at the ECB who work incredibly hard and are important cogs in the wheel," he said of the job cuts. "The current climate we're in with the pandemic these sorts of things are bound to happen. It is not just cricket. It does resonate with the players, and we feel that impact.

"Since the pandemic struck there was that donation made by players at the beginning of the summer that hasn't really been discussed since and we haven't been spoken to by the hierarchy of the ECB. In the current climate with contracts around the corner, you have to expect anything. We have to wait and see. as players, you can't say we're exempt from it. 

"It is a situation where we have to sit down as players and see what happens with regards to these contracts coming up and we'll know more in the next few weeks. We'll reassess at that point. 

"At this moment of time, it is hard for me to say 'we're going to take X-cuts, there are going to be donations here, left right and center'. Until we've seen what happens from above we'll then get more of a feel for it. I certainly wouldn't rule that out."

For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive 3 issues for £5