Joel Garner: We were never paid what we were worth

Garner: “The motivation was just doing well, maintaining the next pay.”

West Indies fast-bowling legend Joel Garner says the greatest players to represent the region were never adequately rewarded for their contributions to the game.

Garner, affectionately known as the 'Big Bird', helped establish West Indies as the undisputed powerhouse of international cricket in the late 1970s and 1980s alongside other pacers like Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Andy Roberts, and Malcolm Marshall. 

Yet, despite their extraordinary success, financial compensation did not always match their achievements. Many players depended heavily on opportunities in English county cricket to supplement their earnings.

"I don't think that we were paid what we were worth when we were playing," Garner told Wisden’s The Scoop. “And we had to keep winning because that was our only bargaining tool when we sat down with the board,” he added. 

The issue remains particularly relevant as Cricket West Indies continues to confront financial challenges, including its recent decision to reduce international players' fees by 25 per cent.

“It is funny how it was done because our board negotiated a fixed fee,” the Barbadian continued. “Our salaries came out of it. Our allowances came out of it. Our laundry, our accommodation, our bus—everything came out of it. And I think in 1980, when we toured England, the money that we were paid for the entire tour was made in one Test match. And when we got home, there was no money to sort of spend in the territories.”

The West Indies achieved an extraordinary 15-year unbeaten streak in Test cricket series spanning from 1980 to 1995, during which the Caribbean side played 29 consecutive series without suffering a single series defeat, winning 20 and drawing nine.

“I was captain of Barbados in 1986. I got two hundred and forty dollars (Barbados), a hundred and twenty US dollars as captain of Barbados in 1986,” said Garner. “And I was a senior player nearly at the end of my cricket career. So you people talk about the motivation. The motivation was just doing well, [and] maintaining the next pay. And you had more motivation than that, because if you got injured, sometimes you never got back in. Because we always had people in the back, knocking on the door, waiting for their opportunity. So you had to keep fit, and you had to keep performing. You were always as good as the last game.”