Dinanath Ramnarine, president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). - FILE
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
WEST INDIES Players Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine has lashed out at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over its the decision to exclude Dwayne Bravo from the list of players being offered retainer contracts.
Ramnarine told CMC Sports the move was a breach of the earlier ruling handed down by the International Cricket Council and Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, and was also a backward step for relations with the regional Board.
"I'm surprised, I'm disappointed, I'm shocked," Ramnarine told CMC Sports Saturday from Trinidad.
"I can't believe we will go back down this road again. We have a ruling, we have an ICC ruling, a FICA ruling which we are bound by. They are now breaching that ruling by saying 'we are going to punish somebody for having a pre-existing contract'."
The WICB on Saturday announced that Bravo would not be among those offered retainer contracts because he held a personal endorsement contract with Cable & Wireless, the principal competitor of West Indies team sponsor Digicel.
In addition, the Board announced the names of seven players who would be issued retainer contracts shortly.
But Ramnarine said the WICB had proceeded to do this without first informing WIPA of the criteria used to arrive at the players chosen.
DISAPPOINTED
"I am extremely disappointed that the board would seek to announce the retained players in the media after having signed an agreement to provide us with that information as well as the category, as well as the criteria for selecting those players," Ramnarine said.
"That was not done and we have to see it in a press release. That is highly unprofessional and it says a lot about the manner in which this West Indies Cricket Board (functions) under Mr. (Ken) Gordon.
"We believe that this recent action will take us further back and basically we are back to square one. That's what we are back to."
Ramnarine said WIPA's agreement with the WICB was for a minimum of 10 players to be placed under contract and not the eight put forward by the regional Board.
The players' union chief said he would discuss the new developments with the WIPA executive and the players before deciding on a response.
Captain Brian Lara, along with vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards and Denesh Ramdin were named by the WICB on Saturday as the players to be issued with retainer contracts.
An eighth player is to be announced shortly.
