St. John's (Antigua and Barbuda), May 30 (IANS): Cricket West Indies (CWI) has decided to cut salaries of players and staff and cricket funding accross the islands by half. The board said that it hopes the cut will be in effect from July and hopes that it lasts "not more than three to six months."

"With no international cricket currently being played anywhere in the world, and with great uncertainty of when regular cricket activity will resume, CWI -- like many other international sporting organisations worldwide -- is facing a significant loss of income, whilst also being uncertain of the long-term impact of the crisis on our operations," said CWI in its statement.

"It is in that context that CWI's Board of Directors, with deep regret, have agreed to a plan that we expect will safeguard CWI's future while delivering at least a minimum level of job protection for all of the people employed or contracted throughout the region's cricket community.

"The effects of this pandemic have been distressing for everyone -- the worst crisis of our lifetime -- and at present, we cannot be certain when the situation will be rectified," said CWI CEO Johnny Graves.

"We recognize that this will cause financial pain for all our staff, players, coaches and umpires across the Caribbean, but having kept everyone on full-pay since the outbreak in March we have no choice but to take decisive action from next month onwards.

"CWI's greatest asset is our people and players and everyone sharing equally in the temporary reduction, we believe is the best way for us to ensure we get through this crisis and protect our organisation and all the jobs in the system. We will be reviewing the situation regularly with the hope that we can return to normal operations at the earliest opportunity."