Committee debate priorities at Summit

The 2025 PCA Summit was held this week with the Players’ Committee leading a series of meetings alongside fellow professionals, PCA staff and guests to discuss and debate the future of cricket.

Hosted in Portugal as a reward for the work of the Committee across the past 12 months, the two-day event provided a relaxed platform to allow all players to actively engage and contribute views to formalise priorities and positions on behalf of the wider playing group.

Following an eventful year off the pitch, 25 players, including county captains, England Women’s PCA Rep and the Men’s Overall MVP, gathered following the conclusion of the season to discuss fundamental topics, including The Hundred investment and its distribution, the gender pay gap, the Futures Fund and men’s and women’s domestic schedules.

With the group arriving in the Algarve, a welcome session began proceedings between players and PCA staff to outline the main topics of discussion, following input from attendees ahead of the Summit through a pre-read document.

With a combination of breakout groups, mixed between men’s and women’s players and then split, the constructive meeting provided an environment to encourage diversity of thought in preparation for the meetings on the following day.

The ECB then joined, as PCA Vice Chair Anuj Dal led the meetings with Managing Director of The Hundred, Vikram Banerjee attending via Zoom for an update on the direction of travel for the new era of the 100-ball competition following the injection of over £500 million through the sales of stakes in the teams.

The former Gloucestershire bowler was challenged by players on prioritising an equitable share of the player salaries in The Hundred to reward domestic players who had built the competition from conception.

Managing Director of the Professional Game, Rob Andrew and Director of the Women’s Professional Game, Beth Barrett-Wild joined in person, providing an opportunity for open and transparent conversations, particularly around the collaborative approach for the women’s structure from 2027. The domestic structure in the men’s and women’s game was a key agenda point, and how the game can look to progress standards for all, including minimum levels on travel, expenses and times between fixtures.

As outlined by Olly Hannon-Dalby when he was elected PCA Chair in February this year, the gender pay gap was discussed at length, with a clear mandate by men’s and women’s players towards the ECB that the gap has to become narrower in The Hundred and domestic salaries.

With the option of golf or padel for all attendees following the extended meetings, further discussion continued in a social environment before PCA Chief Executive, Daryl Mitchell concluded the formalities with a debrief session with players on key learnings, progress and challenges to take forward on behalf of the players.

PCA Chief Executive, Daryl Mitchell, said: “We’re very fortunate to have a high-quality group of Reps that are really engaged, really care about players and really care about the game itself.

“I would like to thank the ECB for their attendance. The meetings were led by players challenging the ECB leadership with views heard loud and clearly on numerous areas, including the need to increase base salaries in The Hundred to appropriately reward domestic players.

“It was clear from the group it is imperative the gender pay gap does not widen with players wanting assurances there is a commitment from the ECB and new owners with a path towards equity in the women’s competition.”

PCA Vice Chair, Anuj Dal, said: “I think it’s been a powerful two days and certainly one of the best Summits I’ve been on with the unity and cohesion between players being so strong. As there’s been a significant amount of money that has come into the game, players want things to happen and rightfully so. We spoke a lot about minimum standards across the men’s and women’s game and there is now no excuse for these things to be put into practice.

“When we come to negotiate, having a true understanding of what players feel is crucial and the engagement has been brilliant. You come away and you feel really positive and reassured that we’re moving in a direction that we feel is going to be bettering every single professional cricketer.”

PCA Vice Chair, Georgia Elwiss, said: “There’s things we feel strongly about as a playing group and it’s been really nice that the men and women have come together and supported each other on issues within cricket that are affecting both sides of the game.

“There were some good challenges and I feel like the ECB has listened to a lot of the things we have fed back and hopefully moving forward we can implement some of those.

“We spoke a lot about the schedule for 2027 with the introduction of the new teams. With the professionalism of the game now, it does bring challenges regarding minimum standards around looking after welfare of players and we need to make sure our voices are heard.”

Warwickshire all-rounder and 2025 Men’s Domestic Overall MVP, Ed Barnard, said: “There was a lot of discussion around The Hundred and the Futures Fund which is there to help players when they leave the game.

“Those players who are the middle earners, many of which helped build The Hundred into what it is now, are an important group and we just want to make sure that the new money that has come into the game filters down through to everyone.

“We also detailed the process to review the schedule and it was disappointing to see the result but the issue will not go away. It’s a topic that will continue to be discussed but it isn’t about wanting to play less cricket, that isn’t the case at all, it’s the minimum standards that should sit around every game.”