Pak domestic players set to lose if English season cancelled

LONDON: With the English domestic season in great danger of being completely lost, the impact will be felt well beyond the UK's borders. Several Pakistani cricketers rely on the English season for their livelihood, playing league cricket there and coaching for various clubs in England. A cancellation will hurt them financially.

More than two dozen Pakistani cricketers who aren't part of the national and domestic set-up have been travelling to the UK for full seasons, earning between £4,500 and £15,000. Some of the more prominent names include Mansoor Amjad, Nayyar Abbas, Qaiser Abbas, Shahid Yousaf and Waqas Maqsood, and these are by no means the only Pakistan players with an interest in the domestic scene in England.

“It will have a trickle-down effect,” Amjad said in an interview “For years, players like me who probably haven't got a future with the national team play league cricket in England. It has been our livelihood and with this coronavirus pandemic we won't able to travel to England to fulfil our contracts. The number of players playing league cricket might have come down over the years because of inconsistent Pakistan domestic scheduling, but there are still over 30-40 cricketers making money from playing in the UK. Several players have played club cricket, with first-class cricketers engaged in coaching jobs to allow clubs to generate revenues. Each player is eligible for a contract of up to of 24 months on the basis of playing five first-class games in one session in any country. With recent changes in Pakistan domestic circuit, a number of players looked to leagues in England for an alternate livelihood.