Temporary amnesty paves way for return of top WI players

BRIDGETOWN: The West Indies board has reached an agreement with the players’ union for a “temporary amnesty”, paving the way for Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and its other leading cricketers to return to the national One-day International side.

Players have been embroiled in contractual disputes with Cricket West Indies (CWI) for several years, with the team even abandoning a tour of India midway through their 2014 series over a payment structure row.

CWI currently only selects players for the international sides if they feature in the same format in domestic competitions. This policy has lead to many high-profile players being absent from the ODI side as they skipped the domestic 50-over tournament in order to take part in lucrative overseas Twenty20 leagues.

CWI said in a statement the agreement formed “part of a wider strategy to be more inclusive and to improve player relations aimed at re-engaging all players within our system so that they can perform at their best for the Windies teams.”

The agreement could see players like Gayle, Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Samuel Badree, who feature regularly in T20 leagues across the world, returning to the West Indies 50-overs side.

West Indies have had little success outside the shortest format and their weakened 50-overs side missed out on qualification for the recent Champions Trophy, played among the top eight teams in world cricket.