Cricket West Indies’ Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave has assured that no player who refuses to go on the upcoming tour to England will face victimization but revealed that those players will be affected by salary cuts.
Speaking on Trinidad and Tobago’s I955FM recently, Grave was asked if players could face victimization for refusing to travel especially in light of the unique situation of the tour playing amid the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
Grave responded, “No! absolutely not! We have been in this position before when we toured Pakistan and most recently the Women’s captain Stafanie Taylor didn’t want to tour. We will respect any player’s decision for whatever reason doesn’t want to tour and so there will be absolutely no victimization whatsoever.”
However, Grave indicated that their spots in the side could be at risk should a player who fills in the position do well enough to secure a slot in the side.
“But clearly if a player doesn’t tour it creates an opportunity for someone else to come in and represent the West Indies and they’ve got the chance to play England in three Test matches and try and cement their spots in the side,” Grave stated.
Grave was also asked about CWI’s recent decision to implement a 50 percent pay cut across the board.
He replied:“The 50 percent pay cut we again took a recommendation to the board and with deep regret the board of directors had to approve that recommendation where we have to cut our costs through the pandemic and we are no different from any other business who are suffering from in terms of a loss of revenue.”
When questioned about its direct impact on the touring side he explained, “The players will obviously be on full pay for the first three weeks of the tour during June. We said to everyone we want to give them a month’s notice before these cuts came in, their retainer contracts or monthly contracts will be half the value in July. We have said to the players if they play any cricket they will be on full match fees so the players will be on their full Test match fees but for the month of July, for those four weeks they’re in the UK they will be on half salaries as well…”
England Cricket Board yesterday announced the schedule for the three-Test series. The first Test will bowl off at the Ageas Bowl from July 8-12 while the second and final Test will be played at Old Trafford from July 16-20 and 24-28 respectively.
Grave detailed that CWI has written to all the governments in the region seeking permission to land a Liat chartered aircraft to pick up players when they are due to depart which is provisionally set for June 8.
When the team arrives, they will be picked up and transferred to a facility where they will be the only team using it. He added that with 25 players heading to England they will be able to have practice matches and train during their two-week quarantine.
