West Indies’ Cricket Board (WICB) hit back at its detractors on Wednesday by insisting it is trying to find ways to keep its best players competing for their national team.
The WICB has faced calls recently for the entire board to resign and following the men’s team’s World Twenty20 victory in India last month, captain Darren Sammy blasted the sport’s policy-makers in the Caribbean.
He was backed by all-rounder Dwayne Bravo who launched a scathing attack on WICB president David Cameron, whom he branded “immature”, “arrogant” and “small-minded”.
In a document sent to media on Wednesday, the WICB claimed it was trying to resolve the issues upsetting its top-level players.
One of those is pay, with players demanding more from the WICB to keep them tied to the national team rather than cashing in on one of the lucrative contracts on offer in Twenty20 leagues around the world.
The WICB said they will meet with the players to discuss the issue at a retreat in the summer.
“The primary focus for this year’s retreat will be to find workable solutions with regards to re-engagement of players, and how they fit into the existing high performance programme and to determine the most affordable remuneration packages,” said the WICB statement.
It promised to make changes but insisted that it “so far has lived up to its promises”.
It also said that results—both the men’s and women’s teams won their Twenty20 World Cups last month—showed they were doing something right.
“That accomplishment has come as part of the high performance programme implemented just over two years ago. That there are small groups clamouring for the board’s dissolution is reason to ask... what more could a region want?”