Cricket Ireland has announced that it is realigning the timing of player contracts, moving from the current calendar year structure to a cycle beginning in March and concluding at the end of the following February.
The decision was confirmed following the governing body's latest virtual board meeting which took place on Tuesday.
"The board has approved a timing realignment of player contracts – this will see contracts being offered to players for 1 March to 28 February each year, as opposed to the current calendar year cycle," said Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom.
"The main reason for introducing this change is that current contract offers are being agreed outside of the organisational budgeting process, meaning we are committing to a cost independent of the board-approved budget for the following year."
Deutrom added that all current player contracts will be honoured until 31 December and that those terms will be extended until the end of February for those who will be offered a new deal next year.
"This applies to all categories of central contracts within the men's and women’s game. We will shortly be meeting with the players to offer contracts for 2021," he said.
Cricket Ireland also confirmed that discussions are underway to reschedule international fixtures that were not played in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
"It looks likely that some fixtures that were to be played in 2020 may be pushed into 2022 or even 2023," said Deutrom.
"To provide a sense of scale just for 2021, there is likely to be more men's international cricket – add to that the women’s international programme, the Inter-Provincial Series, Super Series and three national club cup competitions.
"All of these fixtures will require availability of grounds, so, similar to our pre-season planning for this year, we will need to be creative about delivering the programme in light of the quantity of international-standard pitches around Ireland and the demands of the domestic/club programme."
