`The IPL has spawned a new breed of cricketers who seem to have no respect for the various national governing boards just as long as they can receive top dollars from plying their trade in the many lucrative T20 leagues around the world with or without the blessings of these boards’
It seems difficult to call a spade a spade these days.
Ever since the West Indies cricket team ignominiously pulled out of their tour of India following a dispute with their union the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) over the recent Collective Bargaining Agreement/ Memorandum of Understanding (CBA/MOU, there has been a reluctance it seems to say that the players are at fault. Only a few persons have done so. Instead, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has been criticized and vilified for their handling of the entire sorry episode.
However, the latest revelation that some West Indies players, who abandoned the tour of India, sought from the WICB a Non Objectionable certificate (NOC) to play in South Africa’s Ram Slam T20 league, might put the entire issue in a different light.
It also strengthens the perception that the West Indies players are only interested in playing cricket if the price is right.
That perception started to take root when it was stated that the players reportedly also sought guarantees from organisers of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) that they would not be penalized if they did pull out of the tour of India. If true then the notion of it being an honour to represent your country, is probably hogwash to these players.It’s all about the dollars.
Maybe that is why the WICB, under new Director of Cricket Operations, Richard Pybus sought to institute the `West Indies First’ policy.
If memory serves me right then neither Sunil Narine nor the other West Indies T20 superstars are in agreement or will respect that policy.
In pulling out of the tour of India, the West Indies players showed that they are undeserving of representing West Indies cricket on the field of play. They also give the impression that they are irresponsible and like, errant, petulant, young cricketers of the bottom-house variety, are prone to pick up their bats and balls and walk off once they do not get their own way.
While the WICB (no saint in this matter), is culpable of a lot of transgressions, the blame for the decision to pull out of the tour of India must lie squarely at the feet of Dwayne Bravo and the rest of the players (minus Marlon Samuels).
Simply put the West Indies players are guilty of shooting themselves and West Indies cricket in the foot.
In striking for a few dollars more they, the players, have lost a lot more and should India sue the WICB for money which the board can ill afford to pay, in an effort to recoup some of its losses, the WICB would be virtually crippled, probably for good.
Of course that would not bother the players one bit once the IPL show goes on. Once the West Indies stars (I mean players) decided that they would not lose their lucrative IPL contracts, abandoning the tour was a must. No consideration it seems was given to the fact that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and their own WICB would lose money; that the many television stations that paid money to air the matches would lose money and that the Indian fans so passionate about their cricket would not be able to see the matches.
They striking players also did not seem to consider the future of West Indies cricket nor did they seem to consider that, as ambassadors of the region they were setting a bad example for the young, aspiring `wanna be’ West Indies cricketers.
Now to be fair to the players they do seem to have an issue with the recent CBA/MOU but the way they went about resolving the issue was not the right way after all it was their own union that has represented them for years that they seemed to have the issue with.
That is the body they should have been communicating with and looking to resolve the issue. The players did not have the authority to tell the WICB that they no longer wanted the Wavell Hinds WIPA to represent them. Neither was them telling the WICB to revert to the old CBA when a new one was already in place which superseded the previous one.
There is a lot of uncertainty with the dispute because although letters have been leaked to the media by both sides the issue is still not altogether clear.
Marlon Samuels has said as much. According to the Jamaican, who is not a member of WIPA, he has requested Dwayne Bravo to tell the Caribbean public the truth.
“One of the questions I asked was the public don’t really know what is happening. The public are being misled. They need to know the truth behind this [pullout]. They need to go out there and explain what is really happening,” said Samuels.
While media reports seem to suggest that the players have lost money with the new agreement which is why they have requested a return to the old CBA, this is not so as the figures they have quoted for the test matches for example do not include the property rights which was included in the previous figures which is why it appears as if there is a substantial decrease in the payment.
What is also not clear is if the contracts the players were given while in India was the tour/match contracts or the CBA/MOU for the next three years.
It is a fact that the new CBA includes incentive payments for the players in the event they score a century or take a bundle of wickets. There are also incentives for the team whenever it wins matches. Of course it does not appear as if the players want performance-based contracts. The IPL has spawned a new breed of cricketers who are no longer willing to grind out five day test matches for what they might consider mere pittance compared to what they earn in the IPL for a few hours’ work a day.
And the modern day West Indies player wants to be paid large sums of money just for playing and not for playing with the type of pride which was the characteristic of the Sobers, the Headleys, the Lloyds, the Kanhais and one can go on and on.
At the end of the day though the West Indies players will win this particular battle simply because a second string West Indies team is not an option.
And that is why Messer’s Dwayne Bravo and company can continue to hold West Indies cricket at ransom.
Until…..
