Looking for common ground for West Indies representation

The recent announcement by Michael Muirhead, the West Indies Cricket Board CEO, that the board plans to meet with the contracted players in August to discuss next year’s international home season clashes with Twenty/20 leagues must come as some temporary relief to the ongoing saga.

The proposed meeting should also involve the outspoken duo of Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy and the mercurial Chris Gayle.{{more}}

Following the West Indies’ win in the World Twenty/20 Champion-ships in India in April, these players went on a verbal tirade, bashing the board and its operations.

As it has been well documented and ventilated, there is the sticking point of players jetting off to lucrative Twenty/20 contracts all over the globe and their availability to play for the West Indies.

Based on the current set-up, provisions have been made by the WICB to accommodate the Indian Premier League (IPL).

When the IPL began in 2008, it coincided with the best window for the West Indies to host international teams and had an effect on the regional competitions.

As a result, and as expected, the best players in the region have opted to ply their trade in the IPL, as the returns are far greater.

The likes of Chris, Gayle, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Samuel Badree, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, along with Sammy and Bravo have either declined or have not been afforded central contracts from the WICB.

It must be mentioned that the WICB, in turn, benefits financially from the exploits of the players who have to obtain No Objections Certificates from the regional board.

In place is an agreement by the WICB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), whereby the BCCI pays WICB an amount equal to 10 per cent of the salary of each player participating in the IPL.

The formalized agreement came about as the WICB created a window from April to May for its eligible players to participate in the IPL.

Irked by the situation, current West Indies head coach Phil Simmons expressed his frustrations at seeing West Indian cricketers appear in the Big Bash League in Australia, while his Test squad battles to be competitive.

Simmons, back in December, had called on the WICB to find a way to keep the region’s best players, making reference to New Zealand, a team with similar resources, but which has managed to retain its stars for Test cricket.

But the WICB had found itself in a bind, as ironically, its contracted players were not initially allowed to be part of the Caribbean Premier League, as it clashes with the India tour, which is set for later this month into August.

The WICB, on June 10, however, made it public that it had decided to release five players – Jason Holder, Darren Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite, Devendra Bishoo and Denesh Ramdin.

This type of flip-flopping by the WICB is the reason for the never ending ridicule which it opens itself to.

Getting its act together is paramount, as the board will again have to make a ruling next year, as India is due back in the Caribbean for five ODI’s and a Twenty/20 International.

Hopefully, the board in its discussion with the players next month can also fix its policy concerning qualification for ODIs.

The board had egg thrown in its face when both Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard were selected for the recently concluded tri-nation series, which also involved Australia and South Africa.

The trio of Bravo, Gayle and Sammy all lambasted the board for its inconsistency in the selection of the two.

Pollard was out of international cricket for more than a year because of an injury, while Narine was ordered to fix his bowling action last November.

Neither had played in the Nagico West Indies Super-50 tournament earlier this year, which was one of the qualification clauses for representing the West Indies. To add insult to injury, Pollard has not played ODIs since 2014.

Whilst many may believe that the horses have bolted and nothing can be done at his stage to address the two pertinent issues, at least an effort should be pursued to find a middle ground.

In getting there, both parties have to give and take, as neither can have their cake and eat it.

The dilemma looms, as players cannot hold the board to ransom and go globe-trotting, whilst raking in the millions. And on the other hand, the board is not in a position to compensate the players.

The players, too, in the whole scheme of things, should be honest with their commitment to West Indies cricket.

Let us, however, wish both parties well, as we seek to have the best and strongest team representing the region at all times.

This is against the reality that there have been several attempts at mediation involving Caricom, regional luminaries and the like.