OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Tuesday 10.55am.
ENGLAND’S top cricketers will receive performance-related payments from this summer, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday.
ECB chief executive Tim Lamb and chairman of selectors David Graveney said the shake-up of the pay structure is aimed at improving the results of the national team who have slid to second-last in the unofficial world test rankings.
The ECB will announce the names of the players who will be signed on new contracts similar to those adopted in Australia and South Africa on March 1.
”If the England team are winning then the players that make up that team will receive higher rewards,” said Lamb.
”Within the remuneration package for those contracted to England, a significant proportion of it will be performance-related pay.”
The move by the ECB has long been urged by critics who claim that England players operate in a ‘comfort zone’ with no extra incentive to turn in consistently high-level performances.
He said the ECB has budgeted an extra 750000 for player remuneration this year.
Graveney emphasised the contracted players will still be available to play for their counties.
Graveney, in consultation with coach Duncan Fletcher and skipper Nasser Hussain, has a total of 16 contracts to offer to England players, although the final number may be slightly less as the ECB are unwilling to gamble on younger, less proven talent.
The contracts will be for six months with the possibility that the most senior players may be rewarded with one-year deals.
”We want players to aspire to a contract,” explained Lamb. ”That is why the total financial package is going to be reasonably attractive.” — Reuters