Is West Indies cricket dead ?

[yuppie]

So if the BCCI takes 50 % untill 2023 how will the WI board pay their players?

Is the BCCI goal to destroy cricket? Or just to make it less competitive and only have a few strong teams in world cricket. The moneys going up, but the growth of the sport on a world wide scale is going down.

[mikesiva]

Quite right, yuppie...we're still waiting for an answer on that one. In the meantime, the task force commissioned by the WICB blames all three parties:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/ ... 10383.html

'"We are of the view that the fundamental and overriding excuse for the players withdrawing their labour was the attempted imposition of new contractual terms of employment on the players negotiated between the board and WIPA, which the players saw for the first time after they got to India," the task force said in its report. It said it was not able to calculate with certainty, even with the help of a labour relations expert, the compensation of each player under the new arrangement, and that there was no mention of any incentive scheme in the players' contracts. "There is something fundamentally wrong in sending a team to faraway places with only an historical view of their terms of employment and then to radically change those historical terms after they arrive in that distant place," the report said. "It was the conclusion of the players in India that their compensation would be reduced by some 70%. In our view it is irrelevant whether their calculations were accurate or not." The report said there were "very real questions" as to even whether the MOU signed in September was a contract or not. "Both Michael Muirhead and Dave Cameron, CEO and president, respectively, of the board, took the view that it was an enforceable contract," the report said. "Wavell Hinds on the other hand was equally firmly of the view that the September MOU was not in and of itself a contract but rather an agreed understanding that would lead to a collective bargaining agreement in much the same way as the prior MOU/CBA [collective bargaining agreement] arrangement had worked. "It is trite law that if two parties to a negotiation do not agree on the effect of a document coming out of these negotiations, then there is no meeting of the minds and hence no enforceable contract. The board and WIPA were attempting a sea change in the financial arrangements for West Indian professional cricketers without ensuring that there was understanding and acceptance by the WICB's employees, the touring cricketers." However, the task force also said "a significant proportion of the blame" laid with the players who were in a hurry to abandon the tour though Cameron and Hinds were due to arrive in India in four days' time to discuss the issue. "Senior players in any overseas squad bear a great responsibility to set standards and create examples for the more junior players to follow. This, the task force felt, the senior players failed to do."'

[mikesiva]

'The lawyer representing Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy has called the move by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to drop the trio from the ODI squad for the South Africa tour an attempt to push the trio into "cricket's political wilderness". Ralph Thorne, appointed the players' counsel to negotiate the contracts dispute that lead to West Indies pulling out of the India tour in October, has also blamed WICB for victimising the three players who he now feared could miss out on playing in the World Cup. "I consider the dismissal of Dwayne Bravo from the captaincy of the West Indies ODI team and the dropping of Bravo, Sammy and Pollard from the ODI team to South Africa as a design to graduate them into cricket's political wilderness," Thorne told ESPNcricinfo. Calling the inclusion of Bravo, Pollard and Sammy in the Twenty20 leg of the South Africa series as a "consolation prize", Thorne said it was a deliberate move by the WICB to push aside his clients from participating in the World Cup. Teams are required to submit a list of their final 15 players by January 7. "Their retention in the Twenty20 team is not merely a consolation prize, but that inclusion, joined with their exclusion from the ODI team, is a gentle form of ruthlessness that disqualifies them from the most meaningful opportunity to compete for a place in the World Cup squad." Thorne also called the move to omit the trio from South Africa ODIs but including them in the list of 30 World Cup probables as inconsistent. "Last week, however, the WICB included the three players in a 30-man squad to prepare for the World Cup. Yet, they have not been included in the ODI squad for the tour to South Africa. Are we to conclude that, by this blatant inconsistency, the left hand and the right hand of West Indies selection policy is so woefully uncoordinated?"'

http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/ ... 12899.html

[Aidan11]

Clive Lloyd interview in AOC

http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/fe ... live-lloyd

[mikesiva]

'The chairman of selectors has pointed out that the new captain, Jason Holder, is younger, and that they see him as the person to take this team forward. But it doesn't end there. Bravo has not just been relieved of the captaincy. He, along with Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard, isn't even in the squad to play the five games. Now while arguments can be put forward for the reasons to seek a younger captain, however flimsy those might be, what can you say about leaving the three gentlemen mentioned above out of the squad? Obviously questions have been asked of the selectors. One volunteered the information that the three were left out because they wanted to have a look at younger cricketers leading up to the World Cup. Now if they were sensible enough to have done some homework, they would have realised what a ridiculous argument that was. Narsingh Deonarine, who has been selected in the squad, is older than the three who have been left out. Another argument put forward is that they looked at the stats, and the cricketers left out weren't measuring up. Again, folks, do your homework. Bravo was just selected for the ICC ODI Team of the Year for 2014; that is the team selected from among all the ODI cricketers in the world. Bravo can make that team, but his "stats" aren't good enough to make the West Indies side? That being the case, I think the ICC should just hand the World Cup trophy to West Indies instead of playing the tournament, as they have one hell of a team. I read an article based on an interview with the lawyer for the three gentlemen. He speaks of victimisation, and I'm afraid I have to agree with him. But am I surprised? I am afraid not. He went on to mention that the WICB cherry-picked details from the task force report to victimise the three cricketers. That is fairly obvious. Once again, the WICB has commissioned a report into the workings of the board, like the Patterson and Wilkins report, and used what it felt like using to suit its own agendas.'

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 13037.html

Michael Holding slams the decision to drop Big Bravo, Pollard and Sammy....

[Making_Splinters]

Gayle and Narine have refused to sign WICB contracts, Pollard not offered one.

Gayle had accepted a contract last year, so this is a step backwards for the WICB.

[mikesiva]

More here....

http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/ ... 19755.html

This tells me that Gayle and Narine plan to play the whole season of the IPL, from the beginning of April to the end of May, rather than make themselves available for the Test series against England in April....

Of course, they will be joined by Pollard, and Big Bravo and Russell are likely to find excuses not to play Test cricket too.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 19633.html

'Players can read the certain signs that Test cricket for West Indies is in its last throes, evidenced by the results over the past two decades and in the markedly dwindling attendances. The upshot is that they regard T20 as the game of the future. For some, if not all, it is also undoubtedly a matter of money and how much of it they can make in the two vastly different versions. For others it is a response to them being pigeonholed as limited-overs specialists by previous selection panels....he preceding Test series. Lloyd, who as "one of the best allrounders in the world", cited him as an example of his concerns about the effects of T20 cricket. Instead of aspiring to Test cricket, he said Russell advised him he could only play one-day cricket because of a knee problem. Lloyd's lament was that it was "such a waste that we have a guy who could be a great cricketer who is now not thinking of playing both formats". Russell's one and only Test was in Sri Lanka just over four years ago. He is an exceptional athlete, with his Jamaican speed and outstanding work in the outfield, a bowler of lively pace, and as potentially destructive a hitter as any. His presence in the Tests in South Africa would have made a difference to the shoddy fielding and the collapsible West Indies lower order. His bowling would not have been out of place either. He has clearly given up on a recall to the Test team. Lucrative contracts in the IPL, where he is driven by the adrenaline rush of large, appreciative crowds, are now his focus. Of the dozen West Indians engaged in the IPL last year, only five - Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy and Sunil Narine - had played Test cricket. Jason Holder joined them a few weeks later. Sammy has since quit Tests. Rampaul hasn't played one for two years and wasn't even among the 30 provisionally named for the imminent World Cup. Narine disqualified himself from selection for the home series against New Zealand last June by remaining in India for the IPL final. Their pride in representing West Indies now comes in spasmodic T20s, such as the three in South Africa. They have become gifted at the form, primarily through their experience competing against the best of the best in the IPL and other global T20 tournaments.'

What Cozier doesn't say is that players such as Big Bravo and Pollard also don't play four-day cricket for Trinidad, so how can they get picked for the Test side? It's a simple answer...they don't want to be picked for Test cricket. Rampaul has also made himself unavailable for four-day cricket for Trinidad, Sammy has also retired from that format, to add to the waning interest expressed by Gayle and Narine, and the absolute refusal by Russell, citing a "bad knee". So, it's not just one player who's more interested in T20s than Test cricket...it's a growing number.

[mikesiva]

'STATING that it could no longer hold off on its claims for US$41.97 millions in losses from the premature abandonment of the contracted tour of India last October, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) until next Tuesday to respond to its demands for compensation. In a joint e-mail addressed to WICB president Whycliffe Cameron and Caricom Secretary-General Irwin Laroque on Tuesday, honorary secretary Sanjay Patel warned that if the WICB failed to comply within seven days to the requisitions set out in the original letter of October 31 last year, the BCCI would “initiate legal proceedings in the appropriate forum (identified as the courts of India) against the WICB without further intimation”.'

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/T ... 20761.html

The BCCI demands its pound of flesh....

[rich1uk]

will indian courts have any jurisdiction over the WICB ?

[meninblue]

India not play any series with WI until this issue is resolved.

[Making_Splinters]

With the private tea party at the BCCI seemingly coming to an end. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. The ICC should step in and put an end to this nonsense.

[Aidan11]

Narine has withdrawn from the WC squad.

[andy]

no real suprise there

[mikesiva]

With the private tea party at the BCCI seemingly coming to an end. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. The ICC should step in and put an end to this nonsense.

The WICB has appealed to the ICC to intercede....

http://www.windiesfans.com/index.php?op ... &Itemid=50

[mikesiva]

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will get part of the West Indies payment for participating in the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2015 World Cup that is currently on in New Zealand and Australia. T&T Guardian understands, from credible sources, that one of the arrangements for the payback of the US$41.97M due for the aborted tour in 2014, is that part proceeds from the West Indies payout at the World Cup will go to the BCCI. The WICB incurred this bill after Dwayne Bravo and his men aborted their tour of India in October. They were due to play five limited overs matches but after a pay structure dispute with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), they came back with one match left to play. The WICB then failed to send a Test team for the proposed three-Test tour that followed, and this made matters worse."

http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2015-02 ... -w-cup-pay