More than half the tour was still to be played out when news broke that the West Indies players and board would abruptly end their tour of India due to an in-house disagreement.
The ongoing problem of pay was always an issue for the West Indies players long before the tour, but momentarily at least that was resolved and the tour took place. After crushing the World champions to a 124 run victory in the First ODI it was far from doom and gloom. However India fought back and lead 2-1 with one ODI, one T20 International and three Test matches left to play when Captain Dwayne Bravo hinted they would end the tour. It was during the toss when questioned by commentator Ian Bishop, to whom he said: “It was time to make a decision” that it suggested they were serious of a protest all along and bizarrely he was accompanied by his whole team at the toss to show the unity within the group.
The reason behind the pull-out is seemed to be because the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) and the WIPA (West Indies Players Association) reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and Wavell Hinds the association’s chief executive and president signed the memorandum without the consent of the players or even Dwayne Bravo who was the players’ representative.
Bravo was relentless on insisting that if Hinds didn’t respond to questions from players or cooperate then he and his team mates would pull out the tour. The West Indian captain continued to insist Hinds must step down and resign and that the WICB should not reach an agreement through the WIPA until he resigns. But when Dave Cameron the WICB President said they would only go through the WIPA and that too according to the MoU that was signed months earlier. Understandably not having a say in the MoU, the agreement would not have been in the players favour, hence their decision was to cancel the tour eventually after a long debate.
Former West Indies fast bowler and Sky Sports commentator Michael Holding was embarrassed by it all ‘I have never seen anything like this in the past. I can see serious repercussions from this and I think this is a ridiculous decision by the West Indies Cricket Board. They like to hide behind half-truths. It’s embarrassing for me, as someone who played for West Indies, to see this happening.’
However in the meantime Sri Lanka have offered to fill the void left by the West Indies by playing five ODI’s in November but that still results in India missing 12 days of International cricket at home this season. The BCCI are now considering taking legal action and claiming damages against the WICB which could be around $65 million.
