Tony Becca
DAVID ABDULLAH, the industrial relations specialist who is advising the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), has said that he believes that the problem between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and WIPA can be solved, that the best players will go to Sri Lanka, and that is good news.
"I don't think that we are that far apart now. I think the gap that existed in deciding how the process that we should follow to have the matter resolved is much closer now," said Abdullah after a meeting between the two parties.
The problem has to do with retainer contracts, with the memorandum of understanding, with collective bargaining and, according to Abdullah, the WICB and WIPA are about 80 per cent through with the retainer contract, they are about 90 per cent through with the MoU, they have completed the collective bargaining agreement, and again that is good news.
There are two questions, however: where the money will come from to fund retainer fees and how will a retainer fee, a MoU, and collective bargaining help in lifting the standard of West Indies cricket?
As good as it would be for the players, it seems wishful thinking and could, after a year or two, be nothing more than another cause for strife between the board and the players.
RETAINER CONTRACT
Lest it be forgotten, there was, a few years ago, some sort of retainer contract, because of the lack of money, it lasted one or two years, and there are players who are complaining that the board still owes them money.
A retainer contract would be good - no doubt about that, and so too would be a memorandum of understanding and collective bargaining.
Although together it would solve some of the problems of West Indies cricket and would probably make life easier for the board on the eve of a series, none of that, however, would lift the standard of West Indies cricket and thus improve the performance of the West Indies team.
Regardless of those who do not believe so or who refuse to believe so, the problem with the West Indies team is that West Indies cricket is weak, it is weak for a number of reasons, and that also needs to be addressed.
West Indies cricket is weak, not only because the clubs are suffering financially, but also because senior players - those who are good but who have failed to get into the West Indies team, those who represented the West Indies but who see no chance of doing so again after being replaced - drop out of the game at both the first-class level and the club level.
The reason for that is that while there is money - good money in this region - representing the West Indies, there is no money in first-class cricket in the West Indies.
In this day and age when everything is centred around money, when employers seldom if ever grant time off to their employees so that they can represent their country, so that they can train and practise, players are no longer prepared to play for nothing - for nothing, that is, but a few dollars which amounts to nothing but pocket money.
It is as simple as that, and regardless of what else happens, regardless of what the WICB and WIPA agree to in order to get the best players to Sri Lanka, regardless of how many coaches are employed to coach the West Indies team, the standard of West Indies cricket and thus the standard and performance of the West Indies team will not change until that is addressed - until there is a professional league, professional cricket, in the West Indies.
EXPERIENCED PLAYERS
Nothing that is built from the top can be strong and, apart from solid clubs and a good club system, for the young, talented players to improve, they need to rub shoulders with better and more experienced players at the first-class level on a regular basis.
Until there is something worthwhile for them at the first-class level, however, the better and more experienced players - those who see no future as far as representing the West Indies are concerned but who have something to offer as far as the development of young players are concerned - will continue to drop out, thus leaving the youngsters on their own, to swim or sink.
Where will the money come from to fund professional cricket in the West Indies?
In a region that is far from rich, in a region that is short of so many basic necessities, that is a good question.
The board obviously plans to use a magic wand in order to find the money to fund retainer contracts, and if that is so, maybe it can also wave another one, not, as good as that idea is, to further satisfy the West Indies Test players who are perfect representatives of West Indies cricket these days, but to assist West Indies cricket in finding its way back to the top - or at least near to the top.
