No new contracts have yet been sent to Trinidad and Tobago Red Force players following Cricket West Indies’ decision to reduce domestic franchise retainers from 12 months to seven.
This was confirmed by the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board on Tuesday.
The development means Red Force players remain without formal details of their new arrangements as CWI moves ahead with its revised contract structure, which includes a 25% cut in international player fees.
Among the T&T players in the West Indies team affected by the international cuts are Akeal Hosein and Jayden Seales.
CWI chief executive officer Chris Dehring, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, said players offered international contracts had been given two weeks to consider the agreements and consult with their agents and lawyers before deciding whether to accept.
“Given the timing, and the ongoing India series, we don’t want players to feel there is the proverbial gun to their head to sign contracts that have been offered,” Dehring said.
He said players who decline an international contract would still be eligible for selection for the West Indies.
“That would not preclude them from being selected to represent West Indies, or making themselves available to West Indies,” Dehring said.
The situation is different on the domestic side, where CWI and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have agreed to reduce the length of franchise contracts from 12 months to seven.
Dehring said the decision to reduce the number of contracted months, rather than the number of contracted players, was partly aimed at ensuring more players continued to benefit from central contracts.
The seven-month contracts are part of cost-cutting measures announced by CWI as it seeks to deal with what Dehring has described as a cash-flow crisis. The regional Super50 and Women’s T20 Blaze competitions will also be suspended.
Dehring pointed to the Professional Cricket League (PCL), introduced in 2014, as a major step in providing Caribbean players with financial stability.
Last week on the Mason and Guest radio programme in Barbados, Dehring revealed that CWI and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) are now making approximately US$15 million available to about 120 male and female Caribbean cricketers annually, an average of about US$125,000 per player.
He said the PCL provided regional players with year-round salaries for the first time, while the CPL has increasingly taken on a greater share of player remuneration.
“CPL now contributes significantly to player fees. That has taken that burden off Cricket West Indies,” Dehring said.
For T&T, the PCL has been central to the development and professionalisation of the Red Force programme over the past 12 years and the Red Force ended a 20-year first-class title drought when they won the regional four-day title earlier this year.
But with contracts now covering only seven months, players will have to find ways to remain active and financially supported during the five-month period outside their CWI retainers.