England cricketers willing to dig deep but county game will be hit hard | Vic Marks

Apr 04, 2020

The £500,000 donated by Joe Root and his team is a worthy start but clubs and their players face a difficult balancing act

The last time I was in the Lord’s museum I spotted a letter of 1981 with the familiar Somerset CCC logo at the top in one of the display cabinets. It had been sent to Viv Richards and was the confirmation of his salary for the forthcoming season. At the bottom was Viv’s signature. The sum agreed was just under £9,000 for a six‑month contract. That equates to a salary of £31,000 today.

At the time Richards was the best batsman in the world, just as Brian Lara – arguably – was in 1994 when Warwickshire paid him £40,000 for a season, which now equates to about £68,000.

Tags: Cricket ECB England cricket team Sport