The new Guyana Franchise Company Cricket Guy Inc (CGI) responds to former West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan comments which was made during a recent interview with Sportsmax.
In a press release sent to this publication late yesterday afternoon, CGI said that it wished to correct statements by the former West Indies Test player.
These statements were made during an interview on Sportsmax – Monday following the WICB Professional Cricket League players draft held in Barbados and was also published in the T & T Newsday yesterday.
Following is the test of the CGI release.
“Firstly, CGI would like to congratulate both Mr. Sarwan and the T & T Red Steel franchise for their new partnership which undoubtedly we trust would redound to the best interest and future of West Indies cricket.
For T & T Red Force, they have selected one of the most talented players in the West Indies and for Mr. Sarwan, he has joined one of the most professional entities in the West Indies. Our wholehearted felicitations to both parties!
The WICB has embarked on a new journey with this franchise system which is aimed at professionalizing the game throughout the Caribbean with the specific aim of having the best players on show right throughout the extended season of five (5) months. This is a brand new innovation to us in the West Indies and would take time for everyone to get accustomed to its operations. Through this system, it is hoped that the good to excellent players will shine through whilst the non-committed ones will be weeded out by themselves. In other words, the success of the players all would be measured by their hard work, attitude, discipline and dedication that they make to their chosen career and profession. Cricketers now can truly say that they have a profession with the implementation of this system and 105 players throughout the Caribbean are now being paid to toil their trade rather than just 15 that the WICB would normally contract. There are several other benefits to this new franchise system which will slowly evolve and eventually be appreciated by everyone.
It was indeed sad to see and hear one of greatest cricketers in the WI publicly launch such a vicious assault on an unnamed official of CGI without any evidence whatsoever to support his wild assertions. It should be noted that CGI had a public launching of the new franchise system on Tuesday, September 23rd at the Everest Cricket Club Pavilion at which event almost 100% of the Inter county players attended the seminar with the notable exception of Mr. Sarwan. The CGI Selection Committee selected its original 10 team members from the players they had available.
Mr. Sarwan had called the board about two weeks ago to say that he was not fit to participate in both the Inter County 50 Overs and the four-day format administered by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in August and September. He further stated that he would have been fit in a month’s time which would have coincided with the start of the Regional WICB season. Mr. Sarwan last represented Guyana in Trinidad at the Nagico Super50 tournament in TT during the month of February 2014, then travelled to Jamaica with the four-day team and declared himself unfit just prior to the start of our first Regional 4 day match against Jamaica.
Be that as it may, the selectors of the CGI thought it wise to include Mr. Sarwan in the draft with the hope that he would have proven his fitness as stated above.
By this very action, the selectors had Mr. Sarwan within their radar. It was indeed unfortunate for CGI not to have had the chance to select Mr. Sarwan prior to the Red Force and it is most regrettable that he should make such a remark. For the knowledge of everyone, the WICB has indicated that all 15 players for each franchise will be drafted from the pool next year. This was discussed at length at the franchise launching at Everest.
The CGI would like to start its operations on a sound and professional footing and urge players not to get too personal and emotional in their outbursts as only 15 players can be selected by each franchise and not everyone can be selected but the WICB has ensured that more players are now being contracted as professional cricketers. We are all aware that, unfortunately, Mr. Sarwan had previously lost/cut short his contracts with the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, his CPL contract with the Amazon Warriors and more recently with the English county team, Leicestershire. He was also not awarded a WICB retainer contract this year.
We wish the 15 retained players for the Guyana Jaguars all the best in the forthcoming Regional tournaments and trust that they will rise to the occasion as West Indies cricket is poised for very interesting times. In addition, players not retained are still eligible to be selected to play in matches on a Pay for Play basis,” the release ended.
West Indies players write WIPA president over MOU
Following is the letter the West Indies players currently touring India wrote president of the West Indies Players Association Wavell Hinds yesterday expressing concern over the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the WIPA signed with the West Indies Cricket Board.
Dear Mr. Hinds,
We refer to our last correspondence to you dated October 6th, where we the players suggested as a way forward that: “The players are proposing in light of the above and our previous correspondence, that we continue with the same old payment structure which was previously agreed by WIPA and WICB until we are in a position to properly be informed of all the WICB’s finances etc, have an input in the decision making process and more importantly negotiate an acceptable agreement in an attempt to arrive at a win-win resolution.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this old payment structure will continue and remain in effect until a new agreement is mutually reached between the Players and the WICB.”
We are of the view that this proposal would be an acceptable way forward since everything remains the same and more importantly neither the WICB nor the players are in a disadvantageous position while we continue to discuss further. We are disappointed with the lack of proper representation and the players are now forced to make this proposal without any details as to how this new purported agreement was even arrived at and by whom, since the only advice we have received from you as President and CEO of WIPA is to not sign the contract /agreement that was sent by the WICB.
The players are of the view that as a matter of principle, we should not accept these conditions whereby we are being asked to play a series against India without any certainty of what are our obligations and what we will be playing for. As you would appreciate Mr. Hinds, this is how we as professional cricketers earn our livelihood and provide for our families, our careers are short and uncertain, furthermore it is a highly competitive and stressful environment as one bad performance can see you out of the team forever, a player can suffer an injury at any time which could not only be career threatening but in many cases affect their lives even after their playing days are over.
Mr. Hinds, the list can go on and on.
As we have indicated to you earlier, the players here in India are under tremendous stress and the team morale is at an all-time low. We believe that this present WIPA Executive under your leadership has failed to properly represent the best interest of ALL the players.
Many are questioning whether there is now some “special relationship” between the WICB and WIPA which may be good for some but has not taken into account the whole picture resulting in what may be seen as embarrassing and demonizing some players who represent the WI, yet signalling to public that this new purported agreement (MOU) is in the best interest of West Indies Cricket.
This is evidenced by the inaccurate WIPA press statement which was sent after we raised our strong objections to you both verbally and in writing.
Mr. Hinds, we have over the past few days raised a number of questions which have not been answered even though you should have firsthand knowledge of the facts. We find it worrying that you would want to have a Board meeting to determine who were the lawyers and IR persons used for the negotiations of this agreement.
This has led us to do our own preliminary investigation which has informed us to date of the following, which we will stand corrected as we await your written response later today.
1) There were little or no legal advice sought in the negotiating of this purported new MOU between the WICB and WIPA.
2) There were little or no Industrial Relations advice sought during the negotiations of the purported new MOU.
3) None of the players were consulted during and after the negotiations of this purported new MOU. This is a process that has been the common practice between previous WIPA representatives and the players. This was completely ignored.
4) The Players were never given the opportunity to consider the document (MOU) and approve it before it was signed consistent with past practice.
5) The first time any agreement was seen by the players was a match/tour contract with a new fee structure significantly different from what we received in the past. This was given to us in India.
6) To date, the players have still not seen this new purported MOU between the WICB and WIPA.
7) The players’ rights which we have protected through many negotiations and Arbitrations have been given away for nothing.
8) Questions raised by some WIPA Board members were ignored.
9) The WIPA Board never approved the new purported MOU before it was signed.
10) WIPA is receiving in addition to the 3% of all players earnings, a sum of $500,000.00 USD annually from WICB (1% 0f WICB Revenue) once this new agreement remains.
As indicated in our earlier correspondence, the reduction is unacceptable and as one of our members put it “it is ridiculously insane” when one considers the massive cuts based on the information we have received:
1) Our Test/ODI/T20 fees have been decreased by 75%
2) No compensation for the use of our rights. That has been decreased by 100%
3) Our ICC fees have been decreased by close to 100%
Perhaps Mr. Hinds, the confusion of the plethora of positions that you occupy being Chairman of Selectors for Jamaica Senior team, a Board member of the Jamaica Cricket Association and the dual role of President and CEO of WIPA have in some way contributed to the confusion or perhaps being a member of the same club as Mr. Cameron in some way may have clouded your judgment.
However, we as players who are paying members of WIPA demand that proper representation is required. We wish to make it very clear that should the players be forced to take matters into their own hands, we will not hesitate to take the appropriate action as see fit. We will hold you and the WIPA Board who support this process liable.
Mr. Hinds, the players have raised some further questions that remained unanswered:
1) Have the WICB Board members and staff taken a pay cut as we are being asked to do or at all. Our information is that staff has been increased both in numbers and their salaries.
2) Have the WICB declared their million dollar television deal
3) Have the WICB declared how much they are being paid extra for the matches outside of the FTP like this India tour.
4) Have the WICB declared what they are getting from the sale of CPL to Digicel our most lucrative tournament.
5) Have the WICB declared what they are getting from Digicel as the team sponsor.
6) Have they declared their financial arrangements with Governments for the international and regional home series.
We wish at this stage to once again reiterate our position as a way forward, let us continue under the old structure until we are able to properly negotiate a fair and reasonable agreement in the best interest of West Indies cricket.
This in our view is a sensible approach since it would give us players an opportunity to have an input, seek the necessary advice and put our house in order. We have articulated this position to Mr. Richardson, Mr. Pybus and Mr. Lloyd who all understand our position. It is without question that we want to see West Indies cricket rise again and we are very committed to that process, but the way it is being done is most unfortunate and unacceptable.
We believe we are being hoodwinked and are being treated like little school boys, yet we are being asked to perform and play as professionals.
We appeal for good sense to prevail and that you, who have a responsibility until such time that you hold the position as President and CEO to act in all the players’ best interest. We look forward to hearing from you later today.
Regards,
Dwayne Bravo on behalf of the WI Cricket team
(The relevant parties)
West Indies cricket team: Dwayne Bravo (capt), Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Leon Johnson, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin, Sulieman Benn, Jason Holder, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.
West Indies Cricket Board: Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron (president, Michael Muirhead (CEO).
West Indies Players Association: Wavell Hinds (president).
