Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Association visits every first-class county ahead of domestic opener on Thursday.
The PCA has held pre-season meetings with each of the 18 first-class county squads ahead of the beginning of the LV= Insurance County Championship on Thursday 7 April.
During the meetings, which were held in-person for the first time in two years, the PCA updated current squads on the Association’s progress in a number of key areas, whilst players were also invited to ask questions and hold their players’ union to account.
Amongst the key topics of discussion were the PCA’s ongoing work in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion, the implementation of the brand-new Futures Fund for players leaving the game, and the development of collective rights negotiations undertaken by the Association.
In addition, players were updated on the progress of the PCA’s ongoing domestic structure review, which is aiming to resolve ongoing scheduling issues through consultation with the players.
There were also discussions on advancements made within the women’s game, and how players can get involved with their charity, the Professional Cricketers’ Trust.
The presentations were delivered in partnership with the PCA’s financial wellbeing partner Brooks Macdonald, who spoke to the players about how to engage with their wealth, avoid common mistakes and take control of their financial future by planning ahead.
Pre-season meetings with each of the eight women’s regional centres are also ongoing, with a view to completion ahead of the women’s domestic season which begins with the first ball of the Charlotte Edwards Cup on Saturday 14 May.
The pre-season meetings have formed part of a productive winter for the PCA which has also involved face-to-face conversations with players at the PCA Summit in October and the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in February.
“We’re very lucky that we have an organisation like the PCA representing us on issues off the field.”
AMAR VIRDI, SURREY CCC
Yorkshire’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore said: “These meetings help us to better understand what’s going on in the game, and the more you understand that, the more you can have a say about the future of cricket as a collective, which is what’s so great about being a part of the PCA.”
Surrey’s Amar Virdi said: “It’s great to have these conversations every year, it keeps us up-to-date with what’s going on in the game, and we’re very lucky that we have an organisation like the PCA representing us on issues off the field. It’s so important and we have a lot of faith in what the PCA is doing on behalf of the players, I know I certainly do.”
PCA Chief Executive Rob Lynch said: “This is the most important part of the year for us, meeting our members and meeting them in-person which is something we haven’t been able to do during my time as Chief Executive.
“We’ve been talking about the PCA’s plans, understanding the players’ perspective on what’s going on on the ground, and making sure that the service we’re providing to our members is up to the high standards that we set ourselves. We’re very pleased with the level of engagement we’ve seen from the players during this year’s pre-season meetings, and I would like to thank Brooks Macdonald for joining us to highlight the importance of financial wellbeing.”
Brooks Macdonald Investment Director Rachael Marsden said: “Our involvement with these pre-season meetings has been all about making the players aware of the benefits that having a financial plan in place can bring. We want to make sure that they understand how to support themselves and their family in the future, which is a message we’re committed to delivering alongside the PCA.”
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Name of Author: Professional Cricketers Association
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
