Gayle rejects WICB retainer contract

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – Chris Gayle has joined Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard by rejecting the West Indies Cricket Board’s one-year retainer contract.

The online Barbados Today newspaper reported late yesterday that the left-handed opener will not sign the contract, worth an estimated US $120,000, which requires the players to make themselves available for national and West Indies duty at all times.

The newspaper noted that Gayle’s decision would effectively rule him out of remaining in the position of West Indies captain.

Gayle, like Bravo and Pollard, will still make himself available for West Indies selection, but lucrative playing options outside of the Caribbean have apparently seduced him in to choosing to become a freelance cricketer.

The WICB had offered 25 players retainers contracts on August 31 – 10 of them were development contracts worth an estimated US $25,000 – and gave the players until September 10 to accept them.

The WICB has indicated that 22 of the players have signed the contracts, and are now set to name the replacements for Gayle, Bravo, and Pollard, following a directors’ meeting this weekend here.