The ICC has issued a warning against players taking contractual matters into their own hands, as West Indies did in withdrawing from their tour of India, and hinted that the right to play in domestic tournaments such as the IPL could be removed for those who transgress in future.

West Indies effectively cancelled their commitments in India last month due to a dispute between the WICB, the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the players themselves. The WICB faces a claim for millions of dollars in damages from the BCCI and could still be suspended by the ICC, with the matter a subject of ongoing board meetings in Dubai.

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

No surprise. These players need to understand that there are consequences for their petty actions.

May I enquire what is the Penalty for not exercising Good Governance ; being Incompetent ; Inept ; needlessly wasting money ; lacking Accountability ; and being the Worst International Cricket Board in the World ?????

BTW there are two words that I hope ALL will ponder : DUE PROCESS . The WICB & the
ICC need to think very carefully , because they may collectively or individually have them hauled into a Court of Law .ALL Countries that adhere to Democratic Principles also adhere to DUE PROCESS .

For years the ICC has stood idly , and allowed the WICB to become a ROGUE Cricket Board ; Embarrassing not only itself
but the Region .

It seems to me
that the ICC is oblivious of the fact that
every embarrassment the WICB causes , also tarnishes the Image of the ICC .

If the WICB & the ICC are so big ; Bad & Powerful , why did they not file an Amicus
Brief on behalf of the The Guyanese Cricket
Board when the latter was hauled into Court by the Guyanese Government .

My recollection is that there was nary a Peep out of the WICB & ICC , so what happened to all the power they possessed ??
BTW warning the Players while not disciplining the Rogue WICB is Asinine .

Well, new rules have to made by the ICC for all International Players who commit to a tour and abandon it for reasons that have nothing to do with the playing condition or the opposing team , financial penalties would have to be drastic.

In reply to dayne

Would you agree that Players must know their salaries before going on Tour ?? I am fully aware of the fact that the WICB has many Sycophants in this Forum .

In reply to dayne

By all means, but by not signing any contracts to go on tour, did they really "commit" to a tour?

In reply to DIEHARD

World Champs

In reply to Commie

Relevance?

You realise SL players actually received contracts they could disagree with then decided to tour anyway?

WI players were conned into getting on a plane, and then presented with contracts once they passed the point of no return

In reply to Arawak

I think its more than that. Wavell hinds is getting back at Marlon for putting the blame on him. That is clear now. Wavell need to get out of cricket period...

In reply to DIEHARD

If you read carefully you will note that that they were negotiating terms in the contract all through the tour and in fact suffered loss of revenue because of it.

They eventually won the WC...and that bought them even more negotiating strength.

Last time out they went from march 2011 to Feb 2012...spanning the last ODI wc, without getting paid ONE CENT.

That is a real reason to abandon a tour if any...an option which now has been taken away by the foolishness of people who actually get paid.

In reply to DIEHARD
In these modern times it is unusual to do anything of substance without signing some contractual papers, so it was unprofessional on everyones part who were involve with that tour to conduct business the way they did.

In reply to Commie

The difference here Commie is mutual respect leading to dialogue.

Your beloved WICB prezi was unwilling to even entertain the thought of a conversation with the players, this after BLINDSIDING them with a pay cut!!

If the SL cricket board had shown themselves in the past repeatedly to be untrustworthy, insensitive, inflexible, condescending and disrespectful, and then to do so once more, I'm not so certain that any of the SL players would have gotten on that plane.

Context is very important, yes?

In reply to DIEHARD

You see under what headline this discussion is taking place?

Thats the immediate and pressing context.

The players were naive and now are in a position to be dictated to more than ever before.

Not just them, but people who have real pressing grievances.

Why the surprise?

Are the WICB not part of the ICC?

Is the ICC not made up of boards, each set up to run very much like the WICB (although most do a much better job of it)?

That being the case, why would you expect the ICC to side with the players over one of their own members? That would be like FICA supporting the WICB (although FICA are usually more even-handed in these matters than the ICC).

Even, so I view the ICC statement as having no real teeth. Warnings of possible future penalties mean absolutely ZERO until such time as the ICC explicitly introduces new laws to prevent such future actions by players of any member nation(s). I think the statement below is actually very mild. The bit about "breaching the disciplinary rules of the relevant member board and being sanctioned accordingly" exists today. We will have to wait and see if any such sanctions will be applied.

As for the issue of IPL contracts, why would we expect the BCCI to punish players from aborting a tour which is unrelated to them (say a SL tour of NZ), when they did not punish WI players for aborting a tour which they very much cared for? Do we expect the Ram Slam or Big Bash organizers to harm their own commercial interests over a tour by one set of foreign players to a different foreign country?

Even this vague possible penalty would only apply to a small subset of players, as most do not have these types of contracts.

In reply to Kurt

The reason is very simple. Given 78% of ICC revenue is based on India, when the TV broadcasters want their pound of flesh back, who ultimately is 'paying' the price ? It is the same ICC, aka BCCI who will have to subsist the Boards.

World cricket is connected by one common denominator. CASH. And that cash is almost wholly provided by a small tier of broadcasters who pay the Boards and the ICC.

This idea that you can disconnect one set of actions from another is untrue.

In reply to Commie

What the hell did you just say?

Look, we know the following:

1. BCCI lost BIG financially due to the WICB/players aborting the tour.

2. The BCCI made it clear that they would not punish those WI players.

Given the above, why would we expect the BCCI to punish SL players because they abort a tour of NZ? That makes ZERO sense.

In reply to Kurt

Yes.



Of course it wouldnt say that. You know why ? The BCCI is the patron of the IPL, for which it has sold TV rights which utilise the IP rights of those players for franchises. Why would they put themselves in a position where the TV people, in this case Sony would have grounds to be pissed off, or Pepsi as the tourney sponsor. The BCCI are liable as THEY sold the rights for the IPL. Not the ICC.

However, the ICC has no such encumberance with these WI players, which is exactly why the BCCI left the ICC to say exactly what it couldnt say.

The BCCI wont be banning SL players. The ICC will. The line between the ICC and the BCCI is fine because the BCCI contributes over 70% of ICC revenue...but it is what it is.

And the ICC would punish SL for the very same reason it will punish WI. And that is because it is in the end going to be the ones who have to pay the bill. You can use the ICC or BCCI as the label but in the end, thats what will happen.

I hope this is clearer.

In reply to dayne

Mikey Holding has said, and everyone knows this, that from his time, right up to now in 2014, it is common for WI players to go on tour without having seen a contract.

No problem mon, Island in the sun, given to me by my fathers hand, come Mr. Tally man, day-o and all this shite!

That's how we operate in this region with everything, that's why everything is so stagnant, including our cricket.

In reply to DIEHARD

Well after being sued for 42 Million dollars hopefully the WICB start to break from cultural morns and start being more business like.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

De ICC should start the ball rolling NOW and institute these punishments against these West Indian cricketers NOW.

What nonsense about NEXT time.....; the time for action is NOW.

In reply to DIEHARD

Meanwhile WE must accept the WICB continuously being a Rogue Cricket Board .
Let loose by the ICC .

In reply to POINT

What about the rogue players? Like you fraid to talk about them.

In reply to POINT


STFU--If you do not understand simple contractual law---

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

What a joke! The ICC imagines its has some sort of legal authority in contracts between the players and their boards!

The ICC would have to act against the boards - their own partners in crime. That will be the day ...

In reply to Commie

OK. So you agree with me that the BCCI see banning the WI players as harming their commercial rights and are, therefore, reluctant to take this step.



But now you seem to imply that the BCCI actually DO want to punish the WI players but they rather do so behind the shield of the ICC, than do so explicitly themselves. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make sense to me. Either the BCCI want to ban the players (and harm themselves commercially) or they don't. Now if the BCCI truly want to punish the players, I could see them "hiding" behind the ICC while so doing, but we have already decided that they do NOT in fact want to harm their commercial interests by banning players from the IPL.

Maybe, your belief is that the ICC as a whole want to ban the players, even though the BCCI are opposed to such a step. I could see that being the case, However, the BCCI is sufficiently powerful and the IPL such of a cash cow that I can not see the ICC ever over-riding the BCCI with respect to their own tournament (IPL).



Agreed, and it is for that reason that I do not believe the ICC will act counter to the BCCI, particularly where their cash cow is concerned.




I think I see where you are going with this last bit. You are saying that 70% of the revenues into world cricket come from India, and as a result India get the most back financially as well. That's all well and true, but as far as the BCCI is concerned is has 3 main forms of revenue to get that 70% back, which is selling the broadcast & image rights to the following:

1. Domestic tournaments (of which the IPL is most prominent financially)
2. ICC Events (World Cup etc)
3. Bilateral agreements in which other countries tour India (ticket sales add to revenues from rights sales)

The BCCI does NOT make ANY money from a tour of SL to NZ, and as a result they don't care commercially if such a tour is aborted.

So once again, it does not make sense for the BCCI to harm their revenues of an event they do care about (the IPL) to punish participants in an event they do NOT care about (SL in NZ).

At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding. The BCCI had an opportunity to punish the WI players by excluding them from the next IPL. They did NOT do so.

The ICC can take retrospective actions against the players right now if they so wish. They can all be hauled up under the broad "bringing the game into disrepute" charge. Again though the ICC chose to do NOTHING apart from making empty threats about what MIGHT happen if the problem were to reoccur in the future. The net result is that if the WI players are to be punished, it will fall to the WICB to do so. Will they do so. I honestly have no idea. I suspect that is their DESIRE, but I'm not sure they have the stomach for the consequences which will inevitably be a seriously weakened squad to SA and the WC.

In reply to Commie

If the sponsors say they Need the Players, ICC or BCCI cannot do anything. If the Franchises say BCCI that they need the players ICC or BCCI cannot do anything.

At the end of it commercial interests is what will be paramount for ICC. Afterall the Same Pepsi and other sponsors that support BCCI support ICC too most of the times.

In reply to Pacy

Ever heard teh saying "who pays the piper calls the tune?"

In reply to anandgb

Exactly... All these are just posturing.

In reply to Pacy

You have an inflated view of the value of these players.

In reply to Commie

This attitude is what has made WI cricket drive away all its good players... Be it Haynes, Lara, Hooper etc

While the world cherishes them WICB is hell bent on pulling them down. This is nothing new.

In reply to Pacy

You make these emotional statements....

This isnt some assessment on the value of these current players for what they do on field (which outside of T20 is negligible), but how they influence the monetisation of cricket.

That is why they can be easily sacrificed. They quite frankly are not worth the trouble the broadcasters will wreak on the ICC / BCCI if they dont fulfil their obligations.

If there was a Tendulkar leading a walkout ? Whole different ballgame.