Jos Buttler hopes £500,000 donation from England players can be used to help grassroots cricket

Buttler has also spent the last week auctioning his coveted shirt from last year’s World Cup final, with the leading bid currently up at £65,800

Jos Buttler hopes that the £500,000 donated by England’s centrally contracted players as part of the response to the coronavirus crisis can go towards helping grassroots cricket.

The precise details of the charitable donations announced on Tuesday to the ECB and "selected good causes" are to be decided over the next week by the players; the contribution is the equivalent of all of the players taking a 20 per cent reduction in their monthly retainers for the next three months.

“Everyone is very aware of our duty as players to contribute where we can and, having seen lots of cuts in other sports and business, it’s only to be expected that we needed to do something and we had to make that decision to help,” Buttler told a group of journalists via a Zoom conference call on Monday.

“I hope the money can be used in all the areas that really need it. There are going to be so many areas that are going to be affected: grassroots, youth coaching, disability sport – all these areas that, as players, I think we’d love that money to go towards.

“Without the grassroots cricket, we’re nothing really. That’s the people we’re trying to inspire, that’s the whole point of something like The Hundred – to inspire a new generation and bring new people into the game.

“The players are very strong on wanting that money to help that grassroots structure and pathway because that’s the thing we most need to bring people into the game and make sure that is very strong.”

He explained that talks around the players’ response had been going on for a while before the contribution was announced. Discussions between Eoin Morgan and Joe Root had taken place, as well as with Bob Mitchell, Richard Bevan and PCA chief executive Tony Irish, all of whom sit on the Team England Player Partnerships (TEPP) management committee.

“We had a big meeting as all centrally contracted players a few days ago with Richard (Bevan) and Bob Mitchell to discuss this all and go through it,” Buttler explained. “Everyone came to an agreement very quickly and everyone was in the same opinion.

“It’s a very tight group of players with the same opinions. So, it didn’t take much decision-making at all, to be honest. We knew we wanted to make a decision quickly and because everyone was on the same page it allowed that to happen. It was the best option for everyone.”

England’s women have also volunteered to reduce their salaries through April, May and June, in line with their coaches and support staff.

^{Buttler is auctioning the shirt he wore in the 2019 World Cup final}

Buttler has also spent the last week auctioning his coveted shirt from last year’s World Cup final, with all proceeds going to the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, both of which treat heart and lung disease.

At the time of writing, the leading bid on Ebay for the piece of memorabilia is up at £65,800. The origins of the gesture come in the form of the aunt of Buttler’s wife. She is the head of paediatrics at the Royal Brompton hospital, one of five ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) centres in the United Kingdom.

“When this outbreak started, we were just speaking to her about what it’s like, is there anything we could do to help,” Buttler said. “She initially said about how in the media, it’s true what people are saying about how doctors and nurses are working incredibly long hours, struggling for simple things like snacks and toiletries that they need.

“She said there was a donation we could make on a page, which I did and a few of the other England players did. I think they had a Waitrose delivery on Friday. She also told us about the emergency appeal that the hospital has started. They were looking to raise £100,000 to buy emergency equipment and, speaking to Louise, we said: ‘Well, we could auction my World Cup shirt’ and that would hopefully raise some money that it could go to.”

With a single day remaining for bids, Buttler is hopeful that the price on the shirt will rise even further. He wore it while keeping wicket for 50 overs and then again in the super over at Lord’s on that famous July afternoon, before celebrating in it and taking it off the next morning. “It smells pretty authentic,” he laughed.

“It’s an amazing amount of money,” Buttler added, “and I think, having spoken to the guys at the hospital and knowing what that money can buy them – an ECMO machine, which is vital not just for COVID-19 patients but other heart and lung patients, that’s going to be a big thing for them.”

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