Cricket West Indies (CWI) has introduced a new system of separate contracts for Test and limited-overs international players, starting from July 1, 2018.
Only five players — Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Devendra Bishoo — have been contracted for all formats of the game, while six have been given “red-ball” contracts and five others “white-ball” contracts.
The new measures come in the wake of an increasing number of players opting out of the national team in favor of Twenty20 tournaments.
Most recently, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Darren Bravo opted to skip the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe to play in the Pakistan Super League.
Chief Executive Officer of CWI Johnny Grave said the new retainer contracts aim as an incentive for players to play cricket for the West Indies and be contracted.
He said the process of selecting players was completed last July, ahead of the issue of domestic contracts to the 90 regional professional cricketers on Aug. 1.
Grave noted that while the national men’s team is officially on contract until September 2018, the new retainers will be issued to both national and regional players on July 1, to ensure all professional cricketers start their new contracts on the same date.
