West Indies players face 25% pay cut as CWI battles financial strain

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced a massive 25% cut in retainer fees for all players as a desperate measure to counter the financial, developmental and competitive challenges the board currently faces. The international players will remain on 12-month contracts, but the retainer contracts for domestic players have been reduced to seven months.

Over the past decade, West Indies have seen several big stars give up national contracts to ply their trade in the various T20 leagues across the globe. The trend is likely to gather pace after the new contract changes.

CWI chief executive Chris Dehring thanked the players for their cooperation in testing circumstances for the board, calling the measures a necessary step towards financial stability.

"We appreciate the spirit of cooperation of the West Indies Players' Association and the players who have demonstrated their understanding of the circumstances we all face. While not ideal, it is a necessary step towards financial stability,” CWI chief executive Chris Dehring said in a statement.

CWI has also cancelled this year's editions of the men's Super50 tournament and the women's T20 Blaze, citing operational costs as the primary reason behind that decision.

"Our domestic tournaments as structured historically, where Cricket West Indies bears the entire cost of every national team and tournament - whether it is age-group, development or senior for both men and women - including salaries, match fees, airfares, hotels and event staging costs, are simply unsustainable. The high cost of domestic travel and accommodation absorbs too much of our scarce resources every year instead of being deployed for the direct benefit of our cricket,” said Dehring.

In place of the suspended Super50 and T20 Blaze, separate qualification tournaments for the men's and women's events at the 2028 LA Olympics. The boards of the individual nations will bear the entire cost of hosting the tournaments.

"These replacement tournaments will be by invitation to the 10 countries under the aegis of Cricket West Indies that qualify for Olympic participation. We are excited by these new invitational tournaments, the dates for which are being finalized, as given the higher stakes and prestige, it's an opportunity for individual countries to galvanize national resources to chase Olympic glory, with the responsibility and cost of participation falling on their respective national cricket & Olympic associations, private sectors, governments and people, hopefully fulfilling a desire to make a meaningfully contribution to their national team's hunt for Olympic Glory. The winners of those tournaments will qualify for the ICC Olympic Qualifying tournaments for a spot in Los Angeles in 2028,” Dehring said.

West Indies' World Cup preparations affected

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the Super 50 tournament will also impact the West Indies ODI team as it serves as the pipeline to the main squad. Notably, West Indies failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup in 2023 and will take part in a qualifying tournament in February-March 2027 for next year's edition in southern Africa.

CWI has announced that it will arrange a series of white-ball matches against a visiting England A team in November, followed by an ODI team camp to prepare the players for the World Cup qualifiers.