STILL WAITING

Red Force players in dark over new franchise contracts

No new contracts have yet been sent to Trinidad and Tobago Red Force players following Cricket West Indies’ decision to reduce domestic franchise retainers from 12 months to seven. This was confirmed by the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board on Tuesday. The development means Red Force players remain without formal details of their new arrangements as CWI moves ahead with its revised contract structure, which includes a 25% cut in international player fees. Among the T&T players in the West Indies team affected by the international cuts are Akeal Hosein and Jayden Seales.

Last week on the Mason and Guest radio programme in Barbados, Dehring revealed that CWI and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) are now making approximately US$15 million available to about 120 male and female Caribbean cricketers annually, an average of about US$125,000 per player. But with contracts now covering only seven months, players will have to find ways to remain active and financially supported during the five-month period outside their CWI retainers.

The situation is different on the domestic side, where CWI and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have agreed to reduce the length of franchise contracts from 12 months to seven. Dehring said the decision to reduce the number of contracted months, rather than the number of contracted players, was partly aimed at ensuring more players continued to benefit from central contracts.