Cricket West Indies in financial crunch, players not paid match fees since January 2020

Several cricket boards have been suffering due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. Many eminent boards have also suggested players to take up a pay cut in such a crucial time. Cricket West Indies, on the contrary, has been incurring losses since a long time and their players have not been paid their match fees since January this year.

Cricket West Indies has been suffering a severe cash crunch in their governing body and hence, players have not been paid. While the players’ retainer has been cleared, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has admitted the non-payment of match fees.

The men’s side has not been paid its match fee for the home series against Ireland in January and the Sri Lanka tour in February-March. Talking about the women’s team, they are also due to receive their match fee for the four matches which they played in the recent T20 World Cup in Australia.

It has also been revealed that the domestic players have also not been paid a large percentage of their matches fees for the 2020 West Indies Championship.

‘CWI is facing a tough time financially’: Chief executive officer Johnny Grave

“…monthly salary (and allowances) are up-to-date. The problem we are having is the retained players in the regional first-class competition have not been paid their match fees for the eight rounds that have been played so far,” Wayne Lewis, the secretary of the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), was quoted as saying by ‘ESPNCricinfo’.

Meanwhile, CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave has assured that payments would be made to the players in the near future. Grave revealed that the main reason behind the board facing cash crunch was the huge losses which they suffered when Sri Lanka and Bangladesh toured West Indies in 2018. According to Grave, the board suffered a USD 22 million loss when they hosted Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“Cricket West Indies is facing a tough time financially…there is still money that is outstanding and we are trying to settle these player payments as a priority,” Grave said.

“When we hosted Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we made a USD 22 million loss. The media rights contract paid us less than a million dollars for those two tours,” he added.