The shape of the home summer remains uncertain and NZC expects a significant fall in revenue
ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2020New Zealand Cricket is set to make redundancies as they prepare for an expected fall in revenue due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.Overall NZC is aiming to make NZ$6million (US$ 3.7m approx.) in savings of which NZ$1.5million would come from the job cuts that are expected to hit their operations at head office in Auckland and their base at Lincoln near Christchurch.In the 2018-19 financial report, NZC reported a revenue of NZ$59.4million (US$ 37m approx.) and chief executive David White said they are working on the prospect of a “significant” reduction.ALSO READ: 2020 T20 World Cup prospects fade, as alternatives sought”It’d be fair to say it’s a significant reduction from that [revenue], hence these significant cuts,” White told Stuff. “We have our priorities for the year which we’re not compromising and we’re investing in those. The cuts are coming from NZC, $6 million, of which $1.5m is staff.”In the early stages of dealing with the pandemic, NZC had asked staff to use up annual leave and put them onto four-day working weeks.As it stands New Zealand are due to play Bangladesh, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during their home summer but despite the country’s positive results in the battle against Covid-19 it remains uncertain which, if any, of those tours will take place and if they do whether crowds will be able to attend.There is the added uncertainty over the state of the T20 World Cup and the impact to funding any delay in that tournament would have.NZC has previously committed to the men’s and women’s domestic programmes not being impacted as well as ensuring local and community cricket remains viable.”What we are experiencing is what I imagine most businesses in New Zealand are experiencing at the moment,” White said. “It’s a really challenging situation and we’ve just got to work through it the best we can to ensure NZ Cricket remains strong and viable, and all our members do as well.”New Zealand’s men’s and women’s teams are also set to have away series in Australia in 2020-21 schedule; ODIs and T20Is for the women from late September and a one-day series for the men in January.The men’s ODI series in Australia earlier this year was curtailed when New Zealand announced its border closures forcing the team to make a hasty departure from Sydney after one match behind closed doors. Both boards said they hope to complete that series and the postponed T20I series that was due to be played in New Zealand in late March.While Cricket Australia will announce their tentative summer schedule on Friday there remains considerable uncertainty over international fixtures later in the year and the prospect of Australia and New Zealand taking advantage of a trans-Tasman travel ‘bubble’ – with both countries have success in battling Covid-19 – has been discussed.
