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West Indies cancel remainder of India tour after dispute over player pay West Indies Cricket Board denies calling squad home from India
(35 minutes later)
West Indies have cancelled the remainder of their tour of India due to an ongoing dispute over player payments, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced. The announcement came while the fourth of a scheduled five one-day internationals was ongoing in Dharamsala. The fifth, in Kolkata on Monday, and the Twenty20 international and three Tests following that will not now take place. Confusion surrounds the future of the West Indies’ tour of India after the West Indies Cricket Board denied the squad had been called home.
A BCCI statement read: “The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has informed the BCCI of its decision to cancel the rest of its ongoing tour to India because of a dispute with its players, and has advised the BCCI that its players will return home immediately.” The five-match one-day international series has been overshadowed by an ongoing dispute over payments between players and the WICB and during Friday’s fourth match in Dharamsala, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced that the WICB had cancelled the remainder of the tour.
Trouble had seemed imminent at the televised pre-match coin toss when the West Indies captain, Dwayne Bravo, with his team standing in the background, told broadcaster Ian Bishop: “Time to make a decision.” The team have been in dispute with the West Indies Players Association over the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement and memorandum of understanding, which would see sponsorship payments reallocated to fund the wider professional game in the islands. That would mean the fifth ODI at Eden Gardens and the subsequent Twenty20 international and three Tests would not take place, but the WICB later insisted in a statement on its official Facebook page – after India arranged a five-match ODI series with Sri Lanka to fill the void – that it “has taken no decision to discontinue the ongoing tour”. Midway through India’s innings, a BCCI statement emerged which read: “The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has informed the BCCI of its decision to cancel the rest of its ongoing tour to India because of a dispute with its players, and has advised the BCCI that its players will return home immediately.
The BCCI’s statement continued: “The BCCI is shocked and extremely disappointed at the decision taken by the WICB. The WICB’s inability to resolve internal issues with its players and allowing the same to affect an ongoing bilateral series does not reflect well on any of those involved. The withdrawal gives little thought to the future of the game, the players and the long-standing relations between the BCCI and the WICB. “The BCCI is shocked and extremely disappointed at the decision taken by the WICB. The WICB’s inability to resolve internal issues with its players and allowing the same to affect an ongoing bilateral series does not reflect well on any of those involved.
“The BCCI wishes to inform all its stakeholders, especially ardent fans of the Indian cricket team, that this is a unilateral decision taken by the WICB and its players, in spite of several appeals to the WICB to honour its commitment and complete the series. The BCCI will pursue all options available to protect its rights, whilst seeking appropriate action from the ICC to ensure that its interests and those of the game at large will not suffer any damage due to such acts of indiscretion.” “The withdrawal gives little thought to the future of the game, the players and the long-standing relations between the BCCI and the WICB. The BCCI will pursue all options available to protect its rights, whilst seeking appropriate action from the ICC to ensure that its interests and those of the game at large will not suffer any damage due to such acts of indiscretion.”
Sri Lanka were quickly touted as possible stand-ins for some of the abandoned tour and look ready to accept the offer of a 50-over tour next month. Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga was quoted by Cricinfo as saying: “In principle we have agreed to accept India’s invitation to play five one-day internationals. A joint statement with Sri Lanka Cricket then announced the scheduling of the five ODIs and it was several hours later at 3pm BST – 10am on Antigua, where the WICB’s offices are situated – when a brief WICB statement contradicted all that had gone before.
“Initially India wanted us to play a T20 international as well, but we decided that, with the World Cup only a few months away, playing five ODIs would be beneficial to both teams.” It read: “The West Indies Cricket Board advises, that, contrary to media reports, it has taken no decision to discontinue the ongoing tour to India. The WICB will make a further statement following the conclusion of the fourth one-day international which is in progress.”