Regional players to get monthly salary

VINODE MAMCHAN

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Players taking part in the 2014/2015 Regional First Class cricket series will be paid a monthly salary as well as match fees.

Director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Baldath Mahabir said yesterday that the players will be compensated much better than they were, when they just played for the country and the franchise system was not in place. 

The WICB has revealed that the next season, which starts in November, will see a franchise system coming into play. 

Players from the region would have free movement and can represent any of the six territories (T&T, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Windward Islands and Leeward Islands).

According to the new arrangement, each territory has 10 picks from their country and the other five spots have to be filled by players from other countries in the region. 

There is also an option to have one extra-territorial player. 

This change in the structure of regional First Class cricket came about based on a recommendation by WICB Cricket Operations Director, Richard Pybus. He saw this move as a critical one in improving the standard of cricket in the region. 

Some of the weaker territories can now invest in some quality players and this would lend to more competitive cricket. 

The next season will see the number of matches also increased. 

There will be two rounds of matches on a home and away basis and a winner will be crowned at the end of the round robin stage. This means that each territory will play a total of 10 matches. 

The WICB will be subsidising the league and hence players will get a monthly salary in the range of US$1,500 (TT$9,500) to US$2,500.(TT15,507) A player’s salary will be matched to his seniority. 

In addition to this monthly salary, each player that makes the final 11 for any match will be paid US$1,500. 

President of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB), Azim Bassarath, himself a WICB director said that T&T will not field any extra-territorial player. 

“We are going to only use regional players in our set up. We will pick 10 players from here and then we will choose another five from the Caribbean.

“We are in support of this move because we think that the quality of cricket will be enhanced and this would then improve the quality of cricketers we have coming through to represent the West Indies.”