debut: 4/16/09
36,166 runs
...It is WICB’s position that, if a player wishes to play official cricket and to be considered for selection to play for the West Indies, and whether or not he signs a retainer contract, he must expect NOCs to be issued subject to international commitments, in accordance with the rules of the ICC which govern the overseas tournaments in which he wishes to play. WICB does not have the resources to match the amounts of money that players can earn from playing in the IPL and certain other overseas domestic tournaments. WICB's approach is to permit players to play in the IPL and other overseas domestic tournaments wherever possible, subject only to international commitments. This approach, in WICB’s view, has to be adopted for all players ("FTS Players" i.e. first team squad players) who are (or would be regarded as) members of the current first team squad and who purport to make themselves available for selection, and are eligible for selection (or, rather, not ineligible for selection for the foreseeable future), whether they have signed retainer contracts or not. If FTS Players were automatically granted unconditional NOCs for every overseas domestic tournament in which they wished to play, this would, in effect, allow any FTS Player to make himself available for selection for the West Indies only for matches where he could not find a better paid alternative.
WICB believes that asking an FTS Player who requests an NOC to play in an overseas domestic tournament to accept a condition that he make himself available, if selected, for international commitments which may clash with that tournament, is justifiable. If a player has no contractual obligation to WICB and does not wish to make himself available to play in international matches for which he may be selected, then he has the option of ceasing to be a FTS Player, by retiring from international cricket, or otherwise declaring himself ineligible and/or unavailable for selection for the foreseeable future. In that event, WICB would not consider it necessary or appropriate to issue a player with anything but an unconditional NOC....