Is the decision by The West Indies cricket to ‘down tools’ a mercenary attempt to hold the game itself to ransom?
Speaking to the man in the street it is clear that in the current battle between the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for the very control of West Indies cricket, the players enjoy the greater share of sympathy and support.
Until remarks by Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding on the issue came to public attention the general consensus appeared to be that it was the players who were being shafted yet again by an uncaring and incompetent Board.
But Lloyd, one of the most successful captains in the history of the game, put the ruckus into perspective by contending that the two sides had to share the blame for the fiasco. The players, Lloyd declared were “greedy” and the WICB “dysfunctional”.
Oe thing is clear in this ongoing saga -which surfaces almost every time there is a major tour ahead – West Indies cricket is the ultimate loser.
The bone of contention for WIPA is the issue of retainer contracts.
The Association claims that the players have played four consecutive tournaments without contracts and according to its president, Dinanath Ramnarine, it is unreasonable to ask them to continue to be uncontracted.
The WICB counters by stating that the players have balked at signing the contracts, claiming that those contracts do not reflect the Board’s accession to demands that they have made, demands, the WICB says, are unjust.
However, there is an underlying current to the present stand-off which has to to do with the way in which the players view test cricket. Since the commencement of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament test cricket seems to have lost its appeal for many of the players who now appear unprepared to put their bodies through the grind of five consecutive days for a few thousand US dollars per Test.
The IPL, the alternative tournament had been sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in face of threats from the powerful Indian Cricket League,
It is a situation not disimilar to the Kerry Packer’s circus of1977/78, the rebel tournament organized by the late Australian television tycoon which threatened the order of established cricket.
Now, test cricket and the ICC are under threat but this time from the players themselves and not a rival organmisation.
Chris Gayle’s comments and the recent comments by New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori are a clear indication of how test cricket is viewed by some players.
The comments are a none too subtle hint that the players are not afraid to take on the governing body of cricket and all it needs now is for a major sponsor to come along to ‘buy’ the players loyalty and the ICC might be faced with another Packer scenario.
According to Vettori, New Zealand cricketers might opt to play in next year’s IPL tournament rather than for their country once there is a clash of international commitments.
“It’s a difficult decision and people have families and other issues to work through but our priority was to play for New Zealand,” Vettori told the Herald on Sunday’s newspaper.
“But we realise that if these situations continue to come up it will be difficult for players to continue to turn down the money, so we implore the powers that be to (find a solution) so we don’t have to make these decisions every year.”
These are the kinds of comments that is have led Holding and Lloyd to the view that the players are nothing short of mercenaries who will sell their skill to the highest bidder.
Playing for one’s country is no longer a viable option it seems and given the choice between playing for big money and playing for country the preference is now clearly for the ‘loot.’
Chris Gayle, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in London just before the second test of the recent series against England, certainly made his own disposition clear, stating that he”would not be sad” if test cricket ceased to exist in an era where Twenty20 cricket had proven to be as popular as fast food.
He later claimed to have been misquoted, Vettori’s recent comments, however, clearly show that money is at the heart of the challenges facing the game, not least the WICB.
Contemporary West Indian cricketers are fully aware of their leverage as ‘stars’ notwithstanding the fact that none of them currently averages over 50 in test cricket.
Gayle, for example, earned US800,000 for his stint with the IPL this year and clearly relishes the idea of playing less cricket for more money.
The matter is now in arbitration with the two sides, WIPA and the WICB, meeting with Sir Shridath Ramphal.
It is no secret that the WIPA have won almost every time the matter has gone to arbitration.
Will the outcome be different this time around?
