Jimmy Adams, Director of Cricket at Cricket West Indies does not believe regional players are taking advantage of the governing body to secure T20 contracts in the more lucrative T20 leagues around the world.
During a press conference on Monday with Lead Selector Desmond Haynes, Adams, who was also present, was asked whether this was the case in the wake of the recent development wherein Shimron Hetmyer took time off from the IPL to attend the birth of his child in Guyana, promising to return to complete the season, but using the same reason, has declared himself unavailable for the West Indies white-ball tours of The Netherlands and Pakistan that start later this month.
There have also been instances in the past where players have declined invitations to represent the West Indies choosing instead to play franchise cricket.
“You will have players who will opt not to take contracts because they want the freedom to go and play whenever and wherever. While I respect that, by the same token I think we kind of understand where those players’ priorities lie. There could be a few others like that around. We live with them and we move on if we have to,” Adams said.
Cricket West Indies lead selector Desmond Haynes and Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams have blasted players for not being able to meet minimum fitness standards that would qualify them for selection to the senior men's squad.
“I’m pretty disappointed as well,” Haynes said speaking in a press conference on Monday.
“When you look at the amount of cricket that is being played around the world, I think there is a certain level of fitness that is required and I think there is a standard that you should set as a professional cricketer,” added Haynes before going on to mention how picking players while being unsure of whether or not they can finish tours is a concern.
The Indian team's Caribbean tour this summer will start on July 22 and the five-match white-ball series, comprising three One-Day Internationals and five Twenty20Is, will be played in Trinidad and St Kitts before the visitors wind up the 20-day series, as previously reported by Cricbuzz, in the US.
According to information obtained from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket West Indies (CWI), the three ODIs will be played at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad on July 22, 24 and 27 with the newly-built Brian Charles Lara Stadium there hosting the first of the five Twenty20Is on July 29. The next two T20Is will be played at the Warner Park in St Kitts and Nevis on August 1 and 2 after which the cavalcade will move to Fort Lauderdale in Florida where the last two games will be held on August 6 and 7.
CRICKET West Indies (CWI) lead selector Desmond Haynes said former West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain Kieron Pollard will be missed but believes there is enough talent in the team to fill the void left by the all-rounder.
The CWI selection panel announced on Monday the West Indies senior men’s squad for the upcoming ODI tours of The Netherlands and Pakistan.
The West Indies will visit the Netherlands for three ODIs on May 31, June 2, and 4, followed by another three ODIs on June 8, 10, and 12 in Pakistan.
Haynes, speaking to journalists on Zoom on Monday, said, "I believe (we have others to fill the void). When you look at Pollard's contribution both on and off the field it is not something that we are going to take lightly. He will be missed, but I think people like Rovman Powell, you've got Kyle Mayers, you've got Romario Shepherd and even Akeal (Hosein) playing in the middle there who can bat a little bit and bowl. I think we've got a lot of all-rounders in there and even though we are going to miss Pollard I believe we've got enough there that can do the job for us."
WATCHING the Indian Premier League unfold in 2022, after all it has gone through in the past two years, I couldn’t help but reflect on how the T20 format of the game of cricket began. It started so innocently and has burgeoned into a great entertainment spectacle that is a massive money-spinner, not only to its players, but the industry associated with it.
In the late 90s, the English Cricket Board was concerned with dwindling gates at county matches that started it thinking along the lines of a reduced form of cricket. However, the 18 first-class counties plus Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) that formed the game’s powerbase at the time did not agree with the idea and it was shelved.
Nonetheless, by 2001, the financial concerns reached alarming proportions because of the continued drastic drop in attendance at the three-day first-class games. Survival was of paramount importance.
The ECB got to work, and scheduled interviews with a wide range of people, to help discover the reasons for the falling-away in attendance.
