Porter believes the England players should be rewarded for their sacrifices
Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) chief executive Angus Porter believes England players are “substantially underpaid” and should receive higher wages, especially since they are restricted from taking part in lucrative domestic Twenty20 tournaments that have begun popping up all over the world.
Porter is an instrumental figure in England’s contract negotiations and noted that this issue would be a top priority of his when the new contracts are issued in October.
Since England are continuously kept busy by international and county commitments, they are not able to reap the benefits of the domestic Twenty20 circuit and thus it is no surprise that they lag way behind other countries in terms of money made per annum.
While all England players are committed to their international duties, especially Test cricket, Porter is starting to become concerned about Test series held in May since numerous national team players are starting to express their frustrations at not being able to play in the star-studded Indian Premier League (IPL), while those like Kevin Pietersen who are lucky enough to secure a contract, are tired of having to abandon their franchises midway through the season.
“T20 leagues are very much an issue as we look at the next round of central contracts,” Porter told ESPNcricinfo. “It would be wrong to focus purely on the IPL; the fact is that England players have very little time to appear in any of the highly profitable T20 leagues or even in the Champions League.
“It is quite wrong to presume that central contracts are adequate compensation. England players are substantially underpaid even before we factor in the lost earnings from potential T20 appearances. They are paid somewhere around half the amount of Australian players and most Australian players also have the opportunity to appear in the IPL and the BBL. We are asking that England players be given a chance to maximise their earnings.”
However, Porter is also becoming nervous about “half-strength” teams playing the first couple of Tests in May.
“It is very important to the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) that the integrity of the early season Tests is maintained,” Porter said. “But it isn’t necessarily so important to the opposition. The players are concerned that playing games against half-strength teams does long-term damage to the integrity of the format that all of them feel is the most important and prestigious.
“We understand there are complex issues here. We understand why the England schedule is so busy and we don’t pretend there are simple answers. We are not thrusting a stake into the ground and saying our position cannot be moved. We just feel that a bit of flexibility is required and that a negotiated settlement is the answer. The players are certainly prepared to compromise and I hope the ECB are, too. The England players need to have a greater say in the schedule.”
While talks between the ECB and PCA are in its infancy stages, Porter stated that there were a lot of outstanding issues that needed to be dealt with before the national team head off to Australia for the second leg of their back-to-back Ashes series.
Many England players, like wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior, who try and enter themselves into the IPL auction, are often disregarded by the franchises since they know that they will only have that player on a temporary basis and this makes them less attractive, thus leading to them often going unsold.
No one can forget the numerous times Pietersen has fought tooth and nail with the ECB in an attempt to play a full season of the IPL and the situation is starting to get out of hand, as Owais Shah is preparing to become the first England player to give up his county contract and become a freelance Twenty20 specialist.
“There is no question that we are going to see cricketers go freelance,” Porter said. “It may be Shah and it may be someone else. But you can understand players wanting to maximise their earning ability over the last few years of their career and, perhaps, extending that career by managing their workload. It will happen soon.”
The problem continues to get worse as between 2014 and 2016, the IPL committee are considering to push the dates of the tournament back by a few weeks, making it almost impossible for England players to participate.
Whatever the case, this issue is far from over and only time will tell whether the ECB stand firm on their stance towards the IPL and other domestic tournaments or whether they will fold under the mounting pressure from the national players.