England cricket county club Lancashire on Friday confirmed that it has terminated the contracts of three overseas players- BJ Watling, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Lancashire Cricket can confirm the contracts of the Club's overseas players BJ Watling, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner have been mutually terminated for the 2020 campaign," Lancashire cricket said in a statement.
"New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman BJ Watling was signed for the opening nine Specsavers County Championship games whilst Maxwell and Faulkner would have played for Lancashire Lightning in the Vitality Blast competition, having both featured in last season's competition for the Red Rose," the statement added.
The club further stated that its Director of Cricket Paul Allott had contacted players and the decision was mutually agreed.
"However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and given the cancellation of all fixtures until May 28 - and the current uncertainty surrounding the season beyond that date - Lancashire's Director of Cricket Paul Allott has contacted all three players and representatives over the last two weeks and having explained the situation, it was mutually agreed that all three contracts for the 2020 season would be cancelled," the statement read.
Also, the club announced all the staff has agreed for a 20 percent salary reduction for the month of May.
"In addition, the Club has also agreed with all staff a 20% salary reduction in May. This has also been unmously agreed to by the Lancashire players. The pay cut has been agreed by the playing squad following a number of conversations between Lancashire Cricket and several of its senior players," the statement read.
Commenting on the decisions taken, Allott said: "I would like to thank BJ, Glenn, James and their representatives for their total understanding of the current situation and full agreement of this decision."
"We were all looking forward to welcoming BJ Watling to Emirates Old Trafford for the majority of our Specsavers County Championship campaign, whilst welcoming Glenn and James back to the Club for our Vitality Blast campaign. These are clearly very uncertain and challenging times for all counties both financially and operationally and it's clear the issues we face at the moment will have an impact on the way we prepare for the domestic season. The overseas player situation is a policy that has been discussed nationwide and we think it's prudent to mutually come to an agreement with the players we had originally signed. ," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
