CWI owes regional cricketers match fees

It has been over a month since the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day Championship was halted at the eighth round because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, The Gleaner has been reliably informed that none of the contracted players from the region have received their match fees of US$1,600 (J$220,000) per game since the 10-round tournament started back on January 9.

This was confirmed by CWI Chief Executive Officer Johnny Grave, who sought to shed some light on the situation.

“These are difficult, unprecedented times for many people in the Caribbean,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are just not in the position to pay those match fees at the moment. We have apologised to players and we have thanked them for their patience, and I can assure them they will get their match fees paid as soon as we are in a position to do so.”

Grave said that some of the non-contracted ‘play for pay’ players have received monies for the first three rounds of matches, while the 90 contracted players have all received their retainer fees and allowances for March as of April 6.

Grave said it was difficult to say with any degree of certainty when the players will receive the match fees, but said that remuneration was high on the list of priorities.

BAD RECEPTION

The situation has continued to anger some players, who have endured lengthy delays and missed deadline payments from CWI for many years now.

Leeward Islands and Windies batsman Kieran Powell, one of the non-contracted ‘play for pay’ players, has hit back at the approach implemented by CWI. Pay for play players are only entitled to match fees.

“It is always the same story about financial difficulties,” he said. “Players are supposed to receive their salaries on the 25th of each month; however, that is never upheld. But if a player commits an infringement or receives a fine, the money is deducted very quickly from their pay.”

The left-hander, who played all eight games while scoring the most runs for the Leeward Islands this past season, says he has had to put a system in place so he does not have to rely on the payments from the franchise.

He said that some of the senior players have opted not to play four-day cricket, while the junior players have adopted a watch-and-wait attitude as they are afraid of the backlash if they hit out against the system.

“Players are scared, and I know there are persons who are depending on these payments,” Powell said. “I would love to see more transparency from the board and the players’ association working closely with the players.”