WHEN Cricket West Indies (CWI) made the bold announcement last year July that it had offered “temporary amnesty” to the players who did not fit its selection criteria in order to have them available to play One Day Internationals, there was much euphoria among Caribbean fans who envisaged that this decision would have paved the way for the return of the so-called “stars”.
Prior to this “temporary amnesty” CWI has had a stringent policy of picking only those players who are active in the domestic one-day tournament for 50-over internationals but had boasted at arriving at a truce with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), paving the way for all CWI registered players to be available for selection. At least, this was the feeling of CWI.
Some six months later, it’s back to square one with CWI chairman of selectors Courtney Browne revealing that four of the region’s marquee players in Darren Bravo, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard had turned down an invitation to join the World Cup squad in its last-ditch attempt to secure an elusive spot in the 2019 tournament.
According to Browne, the players have instead opted to participate in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) which clashes with the ICC World Cup qualifiers scheduled for Zimbabwe in March.
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