West Indian players have decided to boycott the Test and ODI home series against Bangladesh starting on Thursday after their long-pending and bitter contractual row with the Cricket Board remained unresolved.
West Indies Players’ Association president Dinanath Ramnarine said the cricketers would not play unless the Board gives them contracts.
“The players have played their last four tournaments without a contract. They are now being asked to play their fifth consecutive series without a contract which is highly unacceptable,” Ramnarine said in a statement.
The West Indies Cricket Board reacted angrily to the development and said it was a breach of agreement.
“The action taken by the players in refusing to honour
their obligations constitutes a clear breach of the collective bargaining agreement between WICB and WIPA,” the WICB said in a statement.
A defiant WIPA, however, maintained that it was impossible for the players to continue without having a contract to give them financial security.
The WICB, meanwhile, denied that the talks have broken down and said, “it has been engaged in ongoing negotiations with WIPA on a number of matters and therefore the action
taken by players was extremely ill advised and premature.”
The dispute has been pending for a long time and there have been instances of players refusing to take the field without contracts, only to be convinced by the Board later on.
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