England's players will share the World Cup's biggest prize pool of £3.2?million if they beat New Zealand in today's (Sunday) final at Lord's, reports https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket.
The money will be split pro-rata among the squad and they will receive a bonus on top of their England deals as well, thought to be worth up to £100,000 each depending on which level of contract a player is on.
Coach Trevor Bayliss will earn a separate payment negotiated when he was appointed four years ago to spearhead the World Cup assault.
Money will not be the motivator on Sunday. Winning a first World Cup is a bigger goal for players who have built towards this for four years. The next World Cup in 2023 is in India, where conditions will be against England. This could be their once-in-a-lifetime chance.
The broadcasting of the match on Channel 4, the first free-to-air exposure for cricket since 2005, is also a massive factor, and the England and Wales Cricket Board will hope thousands go to an open-air screening in Trafalgar Square, too.
Many cite the 2005 Ashes series as inspiring them to take up cricket. This World Cup final could have the same impact, and arrives at just the right time for the ECB as it seeks new backers for its Hundred competition, as well as a title sponsor for Test cricket from next summer.
"It's a fantastic gesture [to share with free to air] by Sky to begin with. It's an opportunity to influence another generation of young cricketers," Bayliss said. "There's a number of the players in this team who were young when that was happening and it inspired those guys to greater things, so hopefully this can do a similar thing for the next generation.
"It [reaching the final] is something we set out four years ago after the last World Cup - we set about putting that in place and it feels great now we have a chance to fulfil their dreams."
Bayliss confirmed he would be leaving the England set-up in September regardless of Sunday's result. His contract ends after the Ashes and he has always insisted four years is enough in one job.
Bayliss was coach of Sri Lanka when they reached the 2011 World Cup final, losing to India in Mumbai, so knows from painful experience the job is not done yet.
"We had a good chat in the changing room after the match and realised we haven't won anything," Bayliss said. "There will be a lot of noise, 'you guys are the favourites', but we can't listen to that and have just got to concentrate on what we need to get our processes right. Do that and we'll play good cricket and the opposition will have to play even better to beat us."
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