President of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Dave Cameron says that one of the main challenges facing West Indies cricket at the moment is the non-availability of senior players but the board is working on models to address the situation.
Cameron made the disclosure during an address at a Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) luncheon for dozens of its members and the media at Kensington Oval on Friday night.
The Jamaican acknowledged that one of the main challenges facing West Indies cricket was that it was tough having the best team available when most of the times some of the leading players were making the T20 leagues around the world such as the IPL and the Big Bash, their main priority.
“Four of our players, and rightly so, have decided not to play for us in the ICC World Cup Qualifier, because they are making way more than we can pay them. That is the reality we are dealing with. The ICC is saying that that is a matter not for them, but a matter to be discussed in Australia, India, etc and not for world cricket.
“You can understand the dilemma that we face. We are living in a small area of about five million not so rich people, and our players would like to earn at the same level as players in India, Pakistan, Australia. That is our challenge and we are facing that challenge front on, and going forward we are looking at different ways and models to ensure that our players are given the opportunity to earn the maximum while making West Indies cricket great again,” he said.
CWI has been the board most crippled due to these T20 leagues around the world as many players from the different Test playing countries have been leaving leagues and going back to represent their national team. This has not been the case with the West Indies players even though the board recently improved their pay packet. CWI is expected to present many different models to the players with the hope that they buy into one. This year they will have no issue with the IPL, as it has been given a window by the ICC.
Last month Cameron said that it would be difficult moving forward to incorporate – Darren Bravo, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Keiron Pollard – into the future of Windies cricket after they opted to miss the qualifiers in Zimbabwe, instead choosing the PSL. This remark created a level of controversy among his Board members, players (both active and retired), head of the players’ representative body (WIPA) and members of the general public from across the Caribbean region with views split as to whether he was right or wrong to express such an opinion as head of the organisation. (Trinidad Guardian)
