On October 17, 2014, India and West Indies played the fourth ODI of a five-match series, in the hill town of Dharamsala. Halfway through the match, news emerged that the West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) had decided to call off the rest of the tour. The WICB communicated to the BCCI that it was left with no choice after a contracts fallout with the players.
Dwayne Bravo was West Indies' captain for that series. He would never again play an ODI. Bravo, who retired from international cricket late last month, has pointed to the dispute as the main reason for this. Bravo spoke recently to i955fm, a Trinidad-based radio station, chronicling the sequence of events that led to the India tour being abandoned.
Looking back the events that transpired in India, would you do anything differently?
The only thing I would do differently is tape everyone. Record everyone who was in there. I'm the only player that really paid for what happened in India. The only one who never get the opportunity to play one-day cricket again. I made a stand, as the captain, as the leader of the team, for the best interest of my players, and by extension the players who have come and played for West Indies cricket. At the end of the day, it wasn't fair on our bosses to send us on tour and cut the guys' contract by 75 percent. It was just really unfair.
read the full interview here
Full Story
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL WHEN THE
WICBC DECIDED TO PAY REGIONAL
PLAYERS IN MY OPINION SIGNALLED THE
END OF THE CLOUT THAT OUR
INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS HAD IN WIPA ,
REGARDING SALARY NEGOTIATIONS WITH
THE WICBC .
THAT WAS A CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED
PLOY BY BOTH THE PRESIDENT OF WIPA &
THE WICBC THAT SERVED TWO VERY
IMPORTANT FACTORS .
THE FIRST FACTOR IS THAT THIS CRAFTY
PLOY MEANT THAT THE INTERNATIONAL
PLAYERS BARGAINING POWER IN WIPA WAS
GREATLY DIMINISHED , SINCE THEY WERE
THEN PUT IN A POSITION WHERE THEY
COULD BE OUT VOTED NUMERICALLY BY
THE REGIONAL PLAYERS .
IN THIS VERY FORUM I STATED THAT
THE ONUS WAS ON OUR INTERNATIONAL
PLAYERS TO COLLECTIVELY SEEK THE
ADVICE OF THE BEST LEGAL FIRM IN THE
REGION REGARDING THIS MATTER &
REGARDING THEIR SALARIES .
I AM AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THE
WORST INTERNATIONAL CRICKET BOARD IN
THE COMMONWEALTH WOULD LIKELY STATE
THAT IT WILL ONLY REPRESENT WIPA .
HOWEVER THAT HAS NEVER BEEN TESTED
IN A COURT OF LAW . IF WHAT BRAVO
STATED IS TRUE , AND THERE HAS BEEN
SILENCE FROM BOTH THE WICBC & WIPA ;
IT SURELY GIVES CREDENCE TO WHAT
BRAVO HAS STATED .
MY PERSPECTIVE THEN IS THAT EVEN AT
THIS LATE STAGE , OUR INTERNATIONAL
PLAYERS NEED TO SEEK THE ADVICE OF
THE BEST LEGAL PEOPLE IN THE REGION
FULLY VERSED IN CONTRACT LAWS .
Our International Players need to
ascertain if the Statute of Limitations on this matter has passed . If it has not passed , then as I have stated ; they need to seek the
advice of the Best Law Firm in the
Region dealing with Contract Laws .
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
It seems to me like these Trinidadian players have a problem with the fact that Hinds of Jamaica is the president of WIPA and Cameron of Jamaica is the president of Cricket West Indies. The insularity is in full effect. The fallout from the attempt at West Indies Federation of the 1950s continues.
In reply to rhatid
You may be onto something here.
Jamaican Marlon Samuels had no problem with either Hinds or Cameron when he was the only one that voted to play the 5th ODI against India in 2014.
The other 15 Trinidadians on the team obviously had a problem with it.
In reply to rhatid
Its unfortunate you show such claim that is void of facts.
Did you read what the player noted?
What led to the West Indies pullout
September 19 WICB and WIPA sign new bargaining agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. WIPA president Wavell Hinds says agreement "not perfect", but brings stability to the system.
October 7 West Indies players threaten to sit out the first ODI against India and claim that Hinds "hoodwinked" them while signing the MoU.
October 8 West Indies play the first ODI, but the captain Bravo asks Hinds and other WIPA officials with conflict of interests, to tender their resignation immediately.
October 11 Bravo writes to WICB president Dave Cameron seeking an "urgent intervention" over payment issues between the board, the players, and WIPA.
October 15 The growing impasse between the players and WIPA intensifies, with the players and WIPA exchanging emails. Hinds denies all claims made against him and says senior West Indies players had expressed "100% support" towards a resolution. Bravo denies any such a resolution was passed.
October 16 WICB says it will "engage" only with the WIPA, and not the players, to resolve the issue.
October 17 West Indies play the fourth ODI against India in Dharamsala, but news breaks during the game that the rest of the tour has been abandoned.
So, the senior players who were in the meeting - myself, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan, [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul - we all agree. We said okay, yes we can take a salary cut, let's discuss figures. The president [Hinds] said that there are no figures yet.
Following threatening comments from Dave Cameron, president of Cricket West Indies (CWI) on TVJ on Thursday that T&T’s Darren Bravo, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, together with Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell, may never play for the regional side again, former one-day captain Dwayne Brave has responded.
In reply to rhatid
You mean like when Dinas was WIPA president and Ole Leatherface was WICB president?
