Sammy: Star exodus to continue unless rule changes
LONDON, England (CMC): SUCCESSFUL FORMER West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, believes the region’s leading players will continue to ignore domestic cricket in favour of lucrative global Twenty20 leagues as long as Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) controversial eligibility rule remains in place.
He told the Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket Show Monday that players returning to the Caribbean to compete in a particular format in order to be selected to the international side was counterproductive since there was no guarantee of selection.
Sammy, a former Test and one-day captain, said CWI were also asking players to pass up valuable income.
“I can’t tell a player don’t go and play there (in a foreign T20 league) when you know financially you can be stable and look after your family,” said Sammy, under whose leadership West Indies won T20 World titles in 2012 and 2016.
CWI mandates players to make themselves available for the relevant domestic tournament in order to be selected for that format internationally.
And with domestic tournaments in the Caribbean often clashing with global T20 leagues, players like Keiron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Sammy have opted to commit to their franchises instead.
Sammy defended the players against accusations of greed, pointing out it was time to change an outdated eligibility rule which was only hurting West Indies cricket.
Sammy contended that unless CWI changed course, he could not see many of the top-tier players representing the region again outside of T20s.