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England’s centrally-contracted players have joined together to donate half a million pounds to good causes while cricket battles the Coronavirus pandemic. A meeting between all 16 red ball

and white ball England cricketers yesterday settled on the donation, equivalent to a three month 20 per cent pay cut. The up front payment will go to the ECB and selected good causes.

England’s women have also agreed to a salary reduction for the months of April, May and June in line with coaches and support staff. Their details of their salary sacrifice were not made

public but were thought also to be 20 percent. England’s stars were furious earlier this week at suggestions they would not respond to pressure to agree to a cut. With the ECB conceding the

game was facing an unprecedented challenge with a significant portion of the season likely to be lost both Test and white ball captains, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, hinted they were ready to

do their bit. A statement from the Team England Players Partnership (TEPP) which negotiates with the ECB over England contracts suggested it might not be the last donation either. “This

contribution is the equivalent of all the England centrally contracted players taking a 20 percent reduction in their monthly retainers for the next three months. “The Players will continue

to discuss with the ECB the challenging situation faced by the game and society as a whole and will consider how best to support the ECB and both the cricketing and wider community going

forward. England captain Heather Knight said: “All the players felt like it was the right response in the current climate to take a pay cut in line with what our support staff are taking.

“We know how the current situation is affecting the game and we want to help as much as we can. We will be discussing with the ECB further ways we can help the game in the coming weeks.” The

Professional Cricketers Association last night put forward counter proposals to the ECB and first class counties about pay cuts for professional county cricketers. A final agreement is

expected some time next week.