The tradition of withdrawing from central contracts in West Indies cricket dates back to a generation. In 2010, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, and Dwayne Bravo were the first to tread that path. In 2023, former captains Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran did not accept the terms of the board’s announced contract. Stepping in their shoes is pace all-rounder Kyle Mayers.
All three of them want to play in the upcoming year’s T20 series for West Indies. They have no objections to playing at other times. However, it’s a matter of their convenience, a day off! When there won’t be a franchise league, that’s when. Choosing the T20 league over the national team is due to financial reasons. The money they earn from the board’s provided salary and match fees is several times less than what they earn from the IPL, International T20 leagues, or South African T20.
West Indies cricketers receive significantly less salary and allowances from the board compared to Australia or India. That’s why they have been in a predicament with the board regarding salaries and allowances before the rise of T20 cricket. Now, that has transformed into contract withdrawals. In 2022, Caribbean cricketers earned an average of around 2.6 million rupees annually from the board.
An island region cricketer gets a minimum of about 1.55 million rupees and a maximum of 2.22 million rupees as compared. In contrast, an Australian cricketer gets a minimum of about 40 million rupees and a maximum of about 190 million rupees. The minimum for centrally contracted English cricketers is around 30 million, and the maximum is nearly 120 million rupees. Even the salary structure of Indian cricketers is comparable to England. The New Zealand Cricket Board pays the best salary.
A Bangladeshi cricketer receives a minimum of 6 million and a maximum of 17.5 million rupees. While West Indies cricketers’ match fees are not quite at par with Australia or India, they are close to Bangladesh-Sri Lanka. The match fee for Bangladesh’s Test matches is around 7,000 dollars, Sri Lanka’s around 6,000, and West Indies’ board pays close to 6,000 dollars.
They receive slightly less for One Day Internationals and T20 matches compared to Bangladesh-Sri Lanka. However, their demand is high in the T20 league compared to the national team. That’s why their risk is higher in the T20 league compared to the national team.
