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In the middle of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Cricket West Indies has recently decided to cut 50 percent salaries of players and its staff temporarily, effective from July. The declaration came after the board consulted with all stakeholders
On facing devastating financial challenges, the Board of Directors for CWI had reached a mutual decision by safeguarding the future of its board apart from players in terms of job protection across regional cricket system in West Indies.
According to the CWI release, the board is going through worst of its times, which eventually impacted its earning procedure. It has been cleared that the uncertainty has further brought operations to a standstill in terms of cricketing perspective.
“With no international cricket currently being played anywhere in the world, and with great uncertainty of when regular cricket activity will resume, CWI – like many other international sporting organizations worldwide – is facing a significant loss of income, whilst also being uncertain of the long-term impact of the crisis on our operations,” CWI maintained in its release.
During Teleconference, the Financial Strategy Advisory Committee which came to the forth in April under the tutelage of CW supremo Ricky Skerritt, has given some valuable insights to the CWI’s Board of Directors.
“Cricket is the beating heart of our region for many individuals, communities, and economies. This pandemic is hurting every West Indian, and this decision to cut staff and player incomes has been a very difficult one to make; one that will impact so many members of the cricketing family around the Caribbean,” Skerritt stated in a statement.
It becomes essential that like other sports, cricket has taken a severe hit with no action taking place from the past few months.
Besides, CW CEO Jonny Graves addressed that they’re not sure when the situation would become permissible, so that, they could begin with normal operations on the Caribbean shores and vice versa. He, even more, mentioned that they tried their best to keep things intact, but as of now, the decision has to be made while considering the financial crunch.
“The effects of this pandemic have been distressing for everyone – the worst crisis of our lifetime – and at present, we cannot be certain when the situation will be rectified. We recognize that this will cause financial pain for all our staff, players, coaches, and umpires across the Caribbean, but having kept everyone on full-pay since the outbreak in March we have no choice but to take decisive action from next month onwards,” Graves maintained.
Grave added they would closely monitor the situation and decide accordingly. He repeated that the temporary reduction would also help the CWI to combat the crisis, at the same time, when the world cricket governing bodies are facing a similar sort of situation due to the deadly virus outbreak.
“CWI’s greatest asset is our people and players and everyone sharing equally in the temporary reduction, we believe is the best way for us to ensure we get through this crisis and protect our organization and all the jobs in the system. We will be reviewing the situation regularly with the hope that we can return to normal operations at the earliest opportunity,” Graves stated.
Nevertheless, the Windies board is hopeful that the new circular might not need to be expanded anything beyond six months.
