London, Apr 16 (IANS): Derbyshire County cricket club has deferred the contracts of Sean Abbott and Ben McDermott until next summer due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, meaning the Australian duo will not be featuring for the club this season

Abbott was set to play across all formats for the first half of the season, while McDermott was supposed to be a part of the club's one-day and T20 teams.

Professional cricket is suspended in England until May 28 and instead of cancelling the contracts like other clubs, Derbyshire on Wednesday decided to delay the duo's contracts as a cost-cutting measure.

Chief Executive, Ryan Duckett, said: "These are unprecedented times and following the postponement of cricket until at least 28 May, and the full impact of the current situation yet to be determined, we need to be mindful of our cricket budget in 2020."

"We will keep our options open for this summer, depending on the amount of cricket we are able to play, however we must all now focus on the current challenges across the sport.

"I would like to thank Sean and Ben, as well as their representatives, for their understanding and commitment to playing a big part for Derbyshire and I look forward to welcoming them to The Incora County Ground next summer," he added.

Matt Henry (Kent), Nathon Lyon (Hampshire), Cheteshwar Pujara (Gloucestershire) and Michael Neser (Surrey) have already had their contracts cancelled for the upcoming season in the wake of coronavirus pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the world so far.