Caribbean Times 31st Issue - Tuesday 8th November 2016
Caribbean Times 31st Issue - Tuesday 8th November 2016
Caribbean Times 31st Issue - Tuesday 8th November 2016
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16 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g<br />
<strong>Tuesday</strong> <strong>8th</strong> <strong>November</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
Pollard barred from Ram Slam<br />
as WICB imposes NOC levy<br />
Kieron Pollard, the West Indies allrounder,<br />
has been denied a No-Objection<br />
Certificate to compete in South Africa’s<br />
Ram Slam T20 Challenge, after the West<br />
Indies Cricket Board made the unprecedented<br />
move of levying 20% of the contract<br />
fee on any <strong>Caribbean</strong> player wishing<br />
to participate in an overseas T20 tournament.<br />
Pollard, who signed a two-year contract<br />
last season with Cape Cobras, was informed<br />
of the WICB decision on <strong>November</strong><br />
3 by the board’s chief executive officer<br />
Michael Muirhead in an emailed letter. He<br />
is currently still in Trinidad, with the tournament<br />
due to get underway on <strong>November</strong><br />
11.<br />
Muirhead called the move a “policy”<br />
decision, taken by the WICB board of directors.<br />
He also said that the WICB had<br />
notified all the ICC Full Member boards of<br />
this decision.<br />
“The WICB will levy a charge for<br />
the granting of an NOC for West Indian<br />
cricketers seeking a release to participate<br />
in Leagues outside the jurisdiction of the<br />
West Indies,” Muirhead informed Pollard<br />
in the email, which has been accessed by<br />
ESPNcricinfo. “This will be an amount<br />
equivalent to 20% of the player fee (as defined<br />
in the player contract) that is actually<br />
paid to the relevant player.”<br />
Pollard was told he would not be granted<br />
the NOC until the WICB had received<br />
“acceptance of our position” from the various<br />
boards which feature <strong>Caribbean</strong> players<br />
in their domestic T20 tournaments.<br />
It is understood that the Bangladesh<br />
Cricket Board is considering a 10% payment,<br />
but might ask the BPL franchises to<br />
carry out such a payment. Cricket South<br />
Africa has rejected the WICB proposal<br />
while there has been no response as yet<br />
from the Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket<br />
Australia.<br />
The Federation of International Players’<br />
Association (FICA) has described the<br />
WICB decision as “restraint of trade” and<br />
warned that it could attract legal challeng-<br />
Kieron Pollard has been denied a No-Objection<br />
Certificate to compete in South Africa’s<br />
Ram Slam T20 Challenge.<br />
es.<br />
Muirhead argued that a release fee was<br />
necessary given how many <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
players are now seeking to maximise their<br />
earnings in the various T20 tournaments<br />
around the world.<br />
“WICB however, having invested in<br />
developing a player’s talent, is not able<br />
to realise a return on its investment if the<br />
player is not available to play in local tournament,<br />
which would allow lesser experienced<br />
players the opportunity to face a<br />
more experienced and skilled opposition,<br />
thereby improving on the standard and<br />
competitiveness of the domestic tournaments,”<br />
he wrote.<br />
However, the move comes as little surprise<br />
to seasoned observers of the current<br />
WICB administration. The board has consistently<br />
said that senior players who earn<br />
big money in the T20 leagues need to compromise<br />
and give back something to the<br />
regional cricket. Otherwise, as Muirhead<br />
noted to Pollard, it “disadvantages” the<br />
West Indies team.<br />
“In the end, it compromises the standard<br />
of the WICB’s international team<br />
and that team’s performance internationally.<br />
The primacy of international cricket is<br />
threatened.”<br />
Muirhead stated in his email that the<br />
WICB move could not be called as restraint<br />
of trade. “While we do not wish to act in<br />
restraint of trade, we must seek a balance<br />
to ensure that there is fair and adequate<br />
compensation for the investment made in<br />
the players,” he wrote. “What WICB seeks<br />
is some compensation to recognise the investment<br />
made into players, an investment<br />
from which another Full Member is benefitting.”<br />
Although Pollard is the only player officially<br />
contacted by WICB so far, many<br />
other <strong>Caribbean</strong> players are predicting a<br />
similar email in their inbox at some point<br />
in the near future.<br />
Muirhead said the board could put the<br />
fees collected for an NOC from various<br />
players into a pot which then could be redistributed<br />
as contracts to players who only<br />
play T20. Pollard, along with the former<br />
West Indies captain Darren Sammy, are<br />
some of the prominent voices who have<br />
asked WICB to offer them T20 contracts.<br />
“It is our expectation too, that the accumulation<br />
of these fees will facilitate the offer<br />
of contracts to players participating only<br />
in the short format of the game,” Muirhead<br />
said.<br />
Pollard, however, is not even a contracted<br />
WICB player, having been controversially<br />
dropped for the tri-series in Zimbabwe,<br />
scheduled for later this month. And<br />
for that reason, Tony Irish, the FICA chairman,<br />
believes that the move is unjustified.<br />
“We have made it very clear to all<br />
the boards that any restrictions placed on<br />
players are likely to constitute restraint of<br />
trade and there challengeable legally,” he<br />
said. “In the case of Kieron, he is not even<br />
contracted by the WICB. Therefore their<br />
attempt to levy 20% in exchange for the<br />
NOC effectively imposes a restriction on<br />
freedom of movement.”<br />
Irish called the decision arbitrary, considering<br />
the WICB had not even discussed<br />
the move with players and the other boards.<br />
He added that he will be speaking directly<br />
to the WICB on <strong>Tuesday</strong> about a decision<br />
that looks set to prevent Pollard from fulfilling<br />
his second year of the contract with<br />
the Cobras.<br />
“It is not a good situation. I will be takcont’d<br />
on pg 15