JCA promises better payment plan for T10 Blast players after unease
JAMAICA Cricket Association (JCA) Chief Executive Officer Courtney Francis says any future iteration of the Dream 11 T10 Blast could see a different payment arrangement for players to limit any chance of unrest related to compensation.
For the inaugural staging of the six-team competition, which ended with Surrey Royals defeating Surrey Kings by four wickets in Thursday’s final, the JCA gave each team’s management body $700,000 to cover expenses, including player compensation.
But towards the back end of the 10-over-per-side tournament there was talk that some players were concerned about monetary allotment and payment timelines.
Though no player chose to go on record, the Jamaica Observer learnt that some disgruntled members of the Cornwall Warriors outfit had been on the brink of sitting out the fifthplace play-off versus Surrey Risers on Wednesday. They were eventually convinced to play and lost by 38 runs.
On a smaller scale there was also talk of dissatisfaction within the two Middlesex teams — the Titans and the United Stars.
“We’ve identified that we may need to do things a little different. So instead of having the franchises paying the players, maybe next time the JCA would be able to do that,” Francis, who is also chairman of the Dream 11 Jamaica T10 Blast organising committee, told the Observer on Thursday.
“It was a matter that was dealt with at the franchise level. The JCA disbursed an equal amount of money to each franchise, so it’s how the money was managed at the franchise level that caused some concern,” he said.
Chester Anderson, chairman of the council leadership for Cornwall Warriors, said he was surprised when he heard there was a stand-off even after players were paid some outstanding monies last Friday.
“I think the players’ approach to resolving whatever issue they had was wrong,” he told the Observer.
“I heard that the players were restive because they saw other players [from other teams] getting envelopes. But there was not a report from players to the manager. I was surprised that the CEO (Francis) had to be involved to resolve the issue.”
Anderson, the president of the Trelawny Cricket Association, insisted the Warriors players were paid as soon as the funds were available.
“When we got the money [from the JCA] on Friday I had to go to the bank to ensure we got the money to pay the players in cash… I drove from Falmouth to Kingston to give the team manager who gave it to them on Friday,” he explained.
Fritz Harris, the council chairman for the Titans and the United Stars, said “two or three” players had issues because of misinformation related to the timeline for compensation.
He said that matter was resolved once players received confirmation about a payment which was to be made at the half-way point of the competition.
“When I first heard about it I had a chat with the players and it was more a case of misinformation than anything else. They were compensated on time; it was just a slight misunderstanding where some of the players maybe two or three of them thought that payment would’ve come after five rounds [of games],” he said.
“We had a meeting and after the meeting everybody appeared comfortable, expressed comfort and the matter, to the best of my knowledge, died there. But probably it came out of the mouths of two or three players that probably they should do that [opt not to play]. There was no serious suggestion of a strike that came to our attention,” Harris, also the JCA second vice-president, told the Observer.