Andre Russell finds playing just for the West Indies as financially inviable
As if the dire state that the West Indies find themselves in wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake has been delivered by their flamboyant all-rounder Andre Russell who has said that playing just for the West Indies wouldn’t be enough to meet his expenses.
Russell, a popular T20 gun-for-hire for franchises all around the world, would been playing in his fifth domestic T20 tournament of the year when he features for the Sydney Thunder in this year’s Big Bash League- the domestic T20 tournament of Australia.
Russell, who believes that he has the right to set himself up from Cricket, has reportedly asked the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to not select him for Test cricket, as he feels the pressure of a five-day game is too much to bear for him.
He said that he couldn’t survive just on the runs that he scored for the West Indies team, and needed the T20 leagues to compensate for his needs.
The West Indies has seen departures of some of its big guns from their national duties towards the lucrative T20 leagues, and while opinions might differ about the reasons that made them do so, the ultimate victim due to this commotion has been their cricket and the fans who put their faith behind the team.
Problems in player-board relations in West Indies
The ruckus had existed for quite some time but took a haphazardly turn last year in October, when the touring West Indies team pulled out of an ongoing tour of India, with one ODI, two T20s and three Tests still to be played.
The reason behind this was slated to be the contracts that were handed over to the players by the WICB, given that their salaries were being reduced massively.
The sour relationship between the WICB and the players had taken a fatal turn back then, as the board reacted by sacking the then captain Dwayne Bravo, who was also left out of the squad that represented the Caribbean conglomeration of nations in the 2015 World Cup.
Stalwarts like Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle have since then been irregular members of the team, with Bravo and Sammy having already taken retirement from Test cricket.
Gayle who has been nursing his back injury, hopes to make a Test return next year, while Pollard is yet to make his Test debut.
All of these players, however, have been massively active in the T20 leagues all over world including the Indian Premier League, the Caribbean Premier League, and the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League.
This comment has only aggravated West Indies’ problems, who have been on a decline, most noticeably in away Test series, as they haven’t won a Test series against any of the top 8 Test nations since 2007.