Ramnarine blasts West Indian board
The West Indies Players' Association has blasted the West Indies Cricket Board for its continued failure to issue members of the West Indian team currently playing against India with match/tour and retainer contracts
Cricinfo staff
14-Jun-2006
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In a letter written by Dinanath Ramnarine, president of WIPA, to his WICB counterpart, Ken Gordon, and published exclusively on CaribbeanCricket.com, Ramnarine accuses the board of failing to honour its commitments to the players, putting their careers in jeopardy, violating "the letter and spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Collective Bargaining Agreement" between the two sides and for "deluding the public and cricketing world into thinking that a new dispensation has been made."
The accusations are the latest twist in a saga that has crippled West Indian cricket since their Champions Trophy triumph in September 2004. Since then, players and the board have been at loggerheads over various retainer and sponsorship contracts as well as disagreement over compensation for the intellectual property rights of players. The crisis was crippling enough, taking, in the words of Tony Cozier, "its toll in the resignations of a board president, a chief executive and a captain, all originally elevated to their positions by default."
The performance of the West Indies during this period, unsurprisingly, suffered in both Tests and ODIs. But the matter was thought to be settled finally late in April this year, after months of exhaustive negotiations, when both sides reached an agreement. Gordon said at the time that eight to ten cricketers would be placed on retainer contracts for a year, beginning from May 1st.
Eight players were duly named earlier this month though one report suggested ten players had qualified to be awarded a contract. It was thought the board's weak financial position prevented them from awarding the two extra contracts though the plan was to add players concurrent with an improvement in the board's financial position.
But trouble has been brewing for a few days now over the issue. In a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Express, published a few days ago, Ramnarine accused the board of acting in bad faith by not honouring the contracts and in his letter reiterates that despite repeated communications by his association, members of WIPA engaged in the current series remain without relevant contracts. In particular, Ramnarine expresses concern over the fact that the board has offered no contracts to players at all for the Indian series, despite having initially agreed to do so.
Ramnarine concludes, scathingly, by accusing the WICB of taking its players for granted while expecting them to perform to the highest levels.
To read the full text of this letter, please click here.