Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood lose England Test contract | Bairstow and Wood lose central contracts due to financial impact caused by COVID-19
The pandemic has impacted even the England cricket board due to which Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood have lost their Test contracts. Bairstow didn’t feature England’s Test campaigns against the West Indies and Pakistan. Mark Wood played the first Test against West Indies and didn’t feature in any Test after that.
Bairstow and Wood played in England’s World Cup winning line up last year which helped them attain the white ball contracts. Ashley Giles, England’s director of men’s cricket says that Bairstow has taken the news very well. “It’s hard news to hear, especially as someone who’s played so much cricket for England across all forms. It’s a knock for him, I’m sure. But I think he truly still does have a desire to go on and play Test cricket. He’s taken it as well as you could expect — and I mean that genuinely”, he said.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has estimated an initial loss of 100 million pounds due to Covid-19 outbreak and the restrictions that it has imposed including zero spectators. The quarantine norms also led to delay of matches but raises the budget of each tournament. The board has recently announced imminent job losses and reduced the value of contracts too.
Reportedly, during the lockdown the players voluntarily made donations to support the national game, “and that looks likely to evolve into a reduction on annual packages that were reported to have been worth 650,000 pounds ($830,000) for Test players and 275,000 pounds ($350,000) for limited-overs players in 2019-20” read the report.
“Although the players have been in a bubble for the majority of the summer, they are not blind to the reality of what is going on in the world. The players have done a huge amount this summer, saving a lot of money for cricket across the board and, in some aspects, keeping the lights on across the country in cricket. But we are mature and realistic about what is going on and revenues are likely to be less in future and that has impact on everyone I can’t over-emphasize that the players are aware of what is going on and that there is a part to play for them”, Giles said.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
