Gloucestershire terminates Qais Ahmad, Andrew Tye's contracts
May 04, 2020
Bristol [UK], May 4 : English cricket club Gloucestershire have become the first county to cancel all their overseas signings with Qais Ahmad and Andrew Tye's deals terminated on Monday.
Ahmad and Tye were due to play for the club during the T20 Blast, with the Afghanistan leg-spinner also set to appear in the County Championship.
The club had previously terminated Cheteswar Pujara's as he was unable to fulfil the deal after the first seven rounds of the Championship postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and international travel severely limited.
"In order to protect our finances and the Club as best we can we have had to sadly terminate our 2020 season contracts with our three overseas players Cheteshwar Pujara, Qais Ahmad and AJ Tye who was due to join the team later in the Summer," said chairman John Hollingdale and CEO Will Brown in a joint statement.
"We know how excited we all were at the prospect of seeing both new and returning faces this year and we're very sorry that this won't be possible. The delay to the season, the postponement of The Hundred and the later start of the T20 Blast as well as the aforementioned financial pressures meant it just wasn't feasible to "bring them over" in 2020. We would like to thank all three of them for their support and understanding," they added.
In a letter to members and supporters, Hollingdale and Brown warned that the Hundred's postponement meant the club's revenue streams "will likely drop significantly well into 2021 before they return to normal".
"One of the potential impacts of the postponement of The Hundred is linked to our Club finances. ECB monies related to broadcast rights will quite possibly suffer without the new tournament and whilst the ECB are doing all they can to support the game and it's counties there is a chance this pain may come down to the County Network and us as an individual Club. We do, however, remain in a robust position to weather this storm but with the playing and watching of cricket likely to be different from what we're used to for some time to come. We must be conscious that our revenue streams will likely drop significantly well into 2021 before they return to normal," they said.
However, last month, the club said it was hopeful that even if no cricket is possible in this season, it expected to break even and "be ready to face the future in a strong financial position when the crisis has passed". Most of the club's staff, including players, remain on furlough leave.
