Internet Desk: A spectre of uncertainty looms large over the world champions West Indies cricketers. The future of Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo,Chris Gayle playing again for West Indies lies with the West Indies Cricket Board. The World T20 winning West Indian captain did target the board officials immediately on winning the coveted trophy for a second time.
The West Indies cricketers and WICB officials is likely to be at loggerheads on the issue of player payments for the tournament.
The West Indies cricketers had threatened on the eve of the tournament in India to pull out, expressing concern over salaries and fees for the players for the tournament.
Captain of the team Darren Sammy at that time wrote to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) CEO, Michael Muirhead indicating to him that he was representing the 15 players who were initially chosen for the tournament and wanted an opportunity to fairly negotiate the financial terms of their contract.
At that point of time Sammy said the players had collectively discussed the remuneration and considering that 14 of the 15 players were not members of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), they did not find WIPA authorization to negotiate on their behalf and they wanted to negotiate their own terms.
Muirhead wrote to Sammy saying that under the Memorandum of Understanding between the WICB and WIPA they are not allowed to negotiate with players and WIPA is the sole body that can negotiate for the players.
Sammy in his letter wrote that in 2012 when the West Indies won the T20 World Cup, the lowest paid player was guaranteed US$57, 937, while the highest paid player was guaranteed US$137,045. He said the figures were higher in 2014 and the players were remunerated based on experience as well.
The problem arose because the WICB had decided before the 2016 World T20 to offer each player US$6900 per game across the board. Sammy’s bone of contention was that the players were being asked to prepare for the tournament a month ahead of it and was just getting match fees worth US$6900. He said if they played all their guaranteed matches then the sum would be US$27,000. The West Indies played six matches, so they are entitled to get US$41,400 in total. According to Sammy this is a staggering reduction between 60 to 80 percent of what they got back then.
The WICB had also removed the 25 percent share from the ICC which was normally given to the squad from money paid to the board for participating in a world event.
The WICB would also take 20 percent of the prize money given for winning the tournament, when in the past 100 percent was given to the players.
Over the coming weeks, the euphoria of winning the tournament may well disappear as money again grabs West Iindies cricket by the jugular.
