Khaleej Times

Top Windies players set to make return

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barbados — The West Indies board has reached an agreement with the players’ union for a “temporary amnesty”, paving the way for Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and its other leading cricketers to return to the national one-day internatio­nal side.

Players have been embroiled in contractua­l disputes with Cricket West Indies (CWI) for several years, with the team even abandoning a tour of India midway through their 2014 series over a payment structure row.

CWI currently only selects players for the internatio­nal sides if they feature in the same format in domestic competitio­ns. This policy has lead to many high-profile players being absent from the ODI side as they skipped the domestic 50-over tournament in order to take part in lucrative overseas Twenty20 leagues.

CWI said in a statement the agreement formed “part of a wider strategy to be more inclusive and to improve player relations aimed at re-engaging all players within our system so that they can perform at their best for the Windies teams.”

The agreement could see players like Gayle, Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Samuel Badree, who feature regularly in T20 leagues across the world, returning to the Windies 50-overs side. West Indies have had little success outside the shortest format and their weakened 50-overs side missed out on qualificat­ion for the recent Champions Trophy, played among the top eight teams in world cricket.

They are ranked ninth in ODIs and could also miss out on automatic qualificat­ion for the 2019 World Cup. “We recognise that it is highly unlikely that we will now automatica­lly qualify for the 2019 World Cup,” CWI Chief Executive Johnny Grave said in a statement.—

We recognise that it is highly unlikely that we will automatica­lly qualify for the 2019 World Cup Johnny Grave

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