Players on the forthcoming tour of England April 21-May 26 have been offered what the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) described yesterday as “a significantly higher payment” than for similar tours.
In a media release, the WICB said its plan included “a specific provision for contracted Indian Premier League (IPL) players to mitigate any loss of earnings”.
The IPL’s second season, switched last month from India to South Africa for security reasons, runs from April 18 to May 24.
Captain Chris Gayle and fast bowler Fidel Edwards are the only two in the West Indies squad for England listed for the tournament.
The WICB did not provide any figures but it is understood that it proposed to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) that the 20 players for England – 17 for the two Tests plus three for the three ODIs – receive US$1.5 million between them as against the usual figure of between US$250,000 and US$300,000.
Gayle, who is with the Kolkata Knight Riders, and Edwards, with the Deccan Chargers, would receive additional compensatory payment for having to cut short their IPL contracts in order to join the West Indies by May 1 in time for the first Test at Lord’s May 6-10.
The West Indies tour was a late replacement after Zimbabwe withdrew from its schedule on the Future Tours Programme (FTP) on political grounds and plans to get Sri Lanka instead fell through as their leading players were signed on to the IPL.
It clearly provided the WICB with a strong bargaining position over financial arrangements with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The originally scheduled West Indies tour of England in 2010 would now be put back under the FTP to 2012, the WICB revealed.
Under an agreement between the IPL and the International Cricket Council (ICC), West Indies and England players required by their boards for the forthcoming series would be automatically released. England’s Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood are in the same situation as Gayle and Edwards.
It makes Gayle available for the first seven of the Knight Riders’ 14 qualifying matches, Edwards for five of the Chargers’. They would receive pro rata payments from their franchise teams.
Gayle attracted a US$800,000 fee from the Knight Riders at the players’ auction for the inaugural IPL last year but was unable to play because of a groin injury.
Fast bowler Edwards is participating for the first time after the Deccan Chargers paid US$150,000 for his services.
Jerome Taylor was contracted for the first time at this year’s IPL auction by King’s XI Punjab for the same sum as fellow fast bowler Edwards but was ruled out of the tournament following minor injuries sustained in a car crash in Jamaica two weeks ago.
Assuming that he would be fit in time for the Test series, he was picked by the West Indies selectors for the England tour.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who were both engaged in the first IPL season, are not returning.
Chanderpaul, who turned out for the Bangalore franchise last year for a US$200,000 fee, has reportedly decided not to renew his contract while Sarwan, who had a modest first season for the King’s XI Punjab, was left unsold at a price of US$100,000 at the 2009 auction.
Daren Powell and Kemar Roach were other West Indians who did not attract buyers.
All-rounder Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith both return, Bravo to the Mumbai Indians for a reported US$220,000 and Smith to the Deccan Chargers on a US$100,000 fee after switching from the Mumbai franchise.
A decision by the WICB’s medical staff that Bravo had not sufficiently recovered from last year’s operation on his chronic left ankle injury for him to stand up to five-day cricket ruled him out of the Test series in England.
He was deemed fit for the shorter version, he played in all five ODIs and the one 20/20 international in the recent home series against England and is scheduled to join the West Indies for the series of three ODIs England May 21, 24 and 26 after the IPL.
