Cricket Ireland and the Irish Cricket Association have agreed to hike Ireland cricketers salary based on terms of Central Contracts following a stand-off.
Ireland Cricketers has initially rejected the offers from the board which implies them to participate in the upcoming T20 World Cup under the contracts expired in February.
The terms of the contracts effectively confirmed that players were still being paid by their retainers. But after the offer was rejected, CI and ICA officially announced that they had agreed to terms from the cricketers and set to process the MoU between the two parties.
“Revised contracts will be issued immediately, and will apply until the end of February 2025,” the statement said.
Cricket Ireland’s chief executive Warren Deutrom has confirmed that players will get a pay raise. “From the inception of player payments, the Cricket Ireland board has always prioritized our senior men’s and women’s players to reward them for their huge part in driving forward the sport in Ireland,” Deutrom said.
“The players have received the biggest share of the new money in Irish cricket this year. That is as it should be. I believe we have done our best to reward players for their hard work and success without forgetting our duty to fund the rest of the sport – particularly at grassroots, club, and provincial level – to ensure we can produce future internationals as well.”
He spoke about how the relations between CI and ICA were strong despite the delay in the process. “These negotiations have taken time to finalize due to the later-than-planned sign-off of our budget, and the complexity of the new model for player contracts,” he said. “However, at all times, we have been working very positively with the ICA to ensure we reached an agreement that works for all.”
Former Ireland batter and ICA President Cecelia Joyce said, “Our members have been unified throughout this whole process, and the outcome is a significant one for all professional players in Ireland, and [for] the game. It ensures greater transparency and clarity with respect to the players’ share of revenue, and on contracting structures for the next period.”
Despite these developments, Ireland Cricket has not yet revealed the list of contracted players for the 2024-25 season. “Further details about the MoU and contracts will be published in due course,” concluded Cecelia Joyce.
Ireland Cricket team is currently playing in the Netherlands Tri-Nation series before joining the T20 World Cup campaign in the USA and West Indies.
Ireland will be playing their first match of the T20 World Cup 2024 against India on June 05 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
