The Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFB) has announced that it will be cutting down the salaries of the coaching staff by 25 per cent this month in order to deal with the financial crisis developed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, salary cut could jump to 50 per cent in June if their tour to Zimbabwe in June is cancelled.
“This is part of our cost saving strategy as we have been also impacted by the COVID-19 crisis,” ACB chief executive Lutfullah Stanikzai said.
“We have decided to cut 25 per cent (of the salary for the coaches) for May, 50 per cent for June if we are not able to resume international cricket. We will try and keep them for as long as our financial situation allows,” he added.
Head coach Lance Klusener, batting coach HD Ackermann and assistant coach Nawroz Mangal are among those impacted by the decision.
Stanikzai said there has been a loss of revenue for them and they will be negatively impacted if the T20 World Cup — slated to be held in Australia in October-November — does not go as planned.
“We are just trying to save costs wherever we can. There has been a loss of revenue for us – the government grant we receive is at risk because the government is spending that on dealing with the pandemic,” he said.
“We are not 100 per cent sure the Asia Cup will take place and the revenue we will receive from there. If there are problems with the T20 World Cup, that will also impact us negatively going forward to next year and beyond,” he added.
Although Afghanistan’s next official assignment is the Asia Cup, the ACB and Zimbabwe Cricket have agreed to play five T20Is in Zimbabwe, which isn’t part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP).