By Tony Becca - From The Boundary OVER THE past few days the bosses of cricket in Pakistan and the cricketers in India have made two good moves, and in the interest of West Indies cricket, the West Indies Board and the West Indies players should copy them.
In Pakistan, the Board of Control has ruled that, as of now, Pakistan's Test players will earn according to performance; and in India, the players have formed a players' association that will represent not only Test players but all first-class players past and present.
The BCCP's decision to link reward with performance follows Pakistan's poor showing against Australia and the hope is that since the players will gain when they win and lose when they lose, it will force the players to properly prepare themselves and to perform better.
Starting immediately, Pakistan's players will be fined for every Test match lost. They will, however, be rewarded - the same amount of money fined - for every Test match won and for individual performances.
The Indian players' decision to form a players association follows the recent confrontation between the Test team and the Board of Control and the hope is that an association whose membership includes not only Test cricketers, not only former Test cricketers but also first-class players past and present will be strong enough to bargain with the board on behalf of cricketers, all cricketers, and to look after the welfare of cricketers past and present.
Not so long ago the West Indies ruled the world, today they are in the bottom half of the rankings, although there are many other reasons for the decline, one is that the players are living easy, and if things do not change they will never rule again.
The players are well paid and nothing is wrong with that. In fact, that is good.
The problem, however, is that the money remains the same whether they win or lose, and with so many of them getting into the team too easily, with so many of them lacking pride in performance, there is little or no drive to perform.
If, however, their pay was linked to performance, collectively and individually, they would be forced, not only to give it best shot every time they compete, not only to prepare themselves mentally, but also to train and practice, train and practice.
As far as the formation of the Indian players association is concerned what is good about it is the membership and the West Indies association should take note.
Unlike the Indian association, membership to the West Indies Players Association is limited to Test players, that cannot be good for West Indies cricket, and if the Test players really have West Indies cricket at heart, if the association is not simply a little club with the members serving their own selfish interests, they should open it up so that all first-class cricketers can become members.
Only then will it be strong; only then will it be respected.
Right now it simply attempts to bargain for the Test players, and with all the other first-class players available for selection if they are not, right now, it can easily be ignored by the Board.
Right now, as far as West Indies cricket is concerned, the players association serves no purpose, it has no power, and it will remain as it is until it opens its arms to all first-class cricketers.
