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."