More trouble in paradise

Dinanath Ramnarine: 'If the board staff hadn't got contracts, would they go to work?' © T&T Express

Once more, there is unrest in paradise. In the Caribbean a number of leading cricketers are again threatening to go on strike in protest against the way they are being treated by their board.

A little over a year ago, West Indies took the field in a Test against South Africa with a weakened side after a number of players went on strike in a sponsorship dispute which had been rumbling on for months. Although it was eventually settled, no one emerged with credit, particularly the West Indies board (WICB) whose handling of the situation was far from perfect.

The latest row centres on central contracts, or rather the lack of them. West Indies players have always been on a play-as-you-play deal, and that has been a major gripe for some time. At the end of April, the WICB finally agreed with WIPA, the players' association, to offer central contracts to a limited number of them. At the time, Ken Gordon, the WICB chairman, stressed their importance. "I spoke to some of the top English cricketers and asked them what they thought led to the transformation of the England team," he said, "and they all told me that it was because they were put on retainer contracts."

So far, so good. The major problem the board has is that it is broke. In fact, worse than that, it owes somewhere in the region of $16 million, so is hardly in a position to throw cash around. It was widely reported last month that only eight central contracts would be awarded because of this, but in fairness to WIPA, the financial limitations have always been accepted.

What has really inflamed the situation is that WIPA claims that the WICB has made no attempt to contact it to discuss the situation despite assurances that the contracts would be in place by the end of the one-day series against Zimbabwe which preceded the start of the India tour. In fact, WIPA has not even been formally contacted to be told how many contracts are on the table. Nevertheless, West Indies played the five ODIs and first two Tests against India in the hope that the issue would be resolved. But it has not.

Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA's chief executive, told Cricinfo that attempts to meet with WICB officials this week have proved fruitless and calls have not even been returned. He is seething at what he sees as this high-handed approach, and it seems that many of the players have now had enough of what they would argue are years of being maltreated by their own board.

The point Ramnarine makes is this. If one of the players gets injured in the forthcoming Test, they would have no rights to be paid while they are injured. They would rely on the goodwill of the board to carry on paying them and, as Ramnarine said, that cannot be right. "If the board staff hadn't got contracts, would they go to work?" he asked. "Then why must players play without contracts and carry on as if nothing is wrong?"

This is a mess entirely of the board's own making. There is sympathy over their financial predicament, but that cannot excuse such slipshod handling of such a vital matter.

Gordon, who appears to be the key figure in all this, is in Germany watching Trinidad and Tobago in the World Cup and studying the way the event is run. Trinidad & Tobago's exit last night was unfortunate, but it might be advisable for Gordon to return home post haste to address a far more important mess on his own doorstep.