Settlement reached between New Zealand Cricket and the NZCPA

The New Zealand Cricket and Major Association bargaining teams have reached an agreement with the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association, New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden announced at a press conference today.

"We can now put in place a player contract system for a four-year period from 2002 to 2006," he said.

"The terms of the agreement reached are largely in accordance with the settlement offer that we tabled on November 1."

Under the terms of the agreement the player payment pool has increased by $100,000, from that in the November 1 offer, to $5.1m. There has also been some tweaking within the player payment pool including changes to the structure of player retainers.

The number of players to be contracted by each Major Association has been increased from 10, in the previous offer, to 11.

"We have resolved the ICC sponsorship contract issue in a way which will satisfactorily protect New Zealand Cricket," Mr Snedden said.

The agreement does not include funding of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association by New Zealand Cricket or Major Associations.

"Both New Zealand Cricket and the Major Associations are happy to work with the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association in the future and we expect to develop a positive relationship with the players association now that the contract issue is behind us," Mr Snedden said.

"We can now look forward to the start of the domestic and international seasons."