Australia, England cricketers set for pay cut

'There are bigger issues going on around the world at the moment than how much our sportsmen are going to get paid. That'll be a small thing to us if that was to happen.'

Australian cricketers might have to accept a pay cut due to the coronavirus pandemic, conceded Test captain Tim Paine but insisted that making financial sacrifices is a "small thing" in the current situation and they are prepared to "do their bit".

A pay cut for the top cricketers seems to be on the cards with Cricket Australia delaying annual contracts for both the men's and women's national teams. CA is preparing for the possibility of a severely-affected home summer due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"Certainly discussions will start happening in the next week or so," Paine was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

"Certainly if things happen similar to what's happened to football and other sports, then we've certainly got to do our bit to make sure the game survives and remains really healthy for years to come.

"If it comes to that, I'm sure that's something that the players will look at. But there are bigger issues going on around the world at the moment than how much our sportsmen are going to get paid. That'll be a small thing to us if that was to happen."

Australia could have overtaken India in the World Test Championship ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series if Paine's side would have managed a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh in June but with the coronavirus outbreak forcing a cricket shutdown, the tour is now unlikely to go ahead.

"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," Paine said.

"Some series have been cancelled and whether ones going forward are going to be continually cancelled or we're going to postpone them (is uncertain) but it's a couple of Test matches and if at the end of the day we have to miss them, then so be it."

There is a lot of uncertainty over the rescheduling of the international calendar, especially with the ICC World Test Championship final slated for June 2021.

Paine said they are eager to make the title clash at Lord's and might need to play five successive weeks to complete the World Test Championship.

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"... maybe players are going to go through a period where we play five weeks' cricket (at a stretch) if we can to complete the Test championship. I think all players will be in favour of trying to finish that in any way we can.

"But again if it doesn't happen as I said there are bigger issues in the world and missing a few Test matches isn't going to hurt us," he said.

Root expects talks over England pay cuts

England's Test cricket captain Joe Root said he expects talks with the country's governing body over possible pay cuts for international players to help safeguard the game's future during the coronavirus outbreak.

England's winter tour of Sri Lanka has been postponed and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced no domestic cricket would be played until at least the end of May.

The Sunday Times said high-profile centrally contracted England players are expected to take cuts of as much as 200,000 pounds ($245,000) from their 1 million pounds per year earnings.

It cited Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who play for England in all three formats of the international game - Test, one-day and Twenty20 cricket.

"I'm sure at some point in the coming weeks there will be a discussion," said Root when asked if he expected players to take a pay cut.

"But I'm also aware they are discussions that will take place between the Professional Cricketers' Association and the ECB (English Cricket Board). That's not my area of expertise," he told reporters via conference call.

"I think we just have to concentrate on making sure we are as fit and as ready to go as we can be for whenever we get back to playing cricket."

England's summer home Test series against West Indies and Pakistan and limited overs matched against Australia from June to August are also at risk of being postponed or cancelled due to the epidemic.

Root has expressed his concern about the amount of workload that multi-format players may have to handle once cricket resumes after the long break.

"It would be ...a huge amount of workload, especially on the multi-format players, but we have had some tough winters in the past and found ways to get through them," he said.

"It would be interesting to see how they would fit it in looking at the schedule as it is right now but if it was to go ahead, we would have to be able to adapt, look at the squad sizes... and make sure guys weren't blown out and overworked."