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West Indies cricket is facing the prospect of a player strike on the eve of the World Twenty20 after the 15-man squad appeared collectively to reject the contracts on offer from the WICB.Darren Sammy, captain of the West Indies T20 side, has written to the board stating the players “can’t accept” what they perceive as “huge financial reductions” in the terms compared to previous global tournaments which, he says, amounts to an 80% cut.Sammy also stated that 14 of the 15-man squad are not part of WIPA (the West Indies Players’ Association) and therefore had not given the organisation the authority to negotiate on their behalf.

Sammy’s letter in full

To all concerned at WICB

I am sending this as captain of the West Indies T20 side and as a collective representative of the 15 man squad selected for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

We have collectively discussed the remuneration on offer to participate in the T20 World Cup. Considering that 14 out of the 15 man squad are not part of WIPA – and hence have not given authorisation to WIPA to negotiate on our behalf – and a large number do not receive any significant remuneration from WICB at all, we want the opportunity to negotiate fairly the financial terms within the contract.

The 2015 World Cup took place with the WI squad remunerated under the terms and conditions that had been in place for the World Cups previous – ie that 25% of income received by the WICB for participating in the tournament was distributed to the squad.

We do not understand – nor accept – just 1 year later being offered contracts to participate in a major ICC World Cup that show such huge financial reductions.

We want to represent the West Indies but the financials on offer we can’t accept.

Obviously I am not privy to exact numbers paid to the WICB from the ICC, but I understand USD $8m will be paid to the Board.

Traditionally 25% has been paid to the squad. That would equate to USD $2m / 15 therefore approximately USD $133,000 per player.

Worse case scenario the squad would earn $414,000 collectively under the terms of the contract offered by WICB to participate in the T20 World Cup 2016. That is just over 5%. A staggering difference, a near 80% reduction.

We want to propose we participate in the T20 World Cup 2016 under the same terms we have represented the West Indies in previous tournaments.

Please can you address this urgently. The T20 World Cup is just a matter of weeks away.

Darren Sammy

Though Sammy himself stopped short of threatening to withdraw from the tournament, ESPNcricinfo understands that other squad members have not ruled out the possibility. He made it clear that the players would not accept the current offer and called upon the board to “address this urgently”.”We want to represent the West Indies but the financials on offer we can’t accept,” Sammy wrote.”Obviously I am not privy to exact numbers paid to the WICB from the ICC, but I understand USD $8m will be paid to the Board.”Traditionally 25% has been paid to the squad. That would equate to USD $2m / 15 therefore approximately USD $133,000 per player.”Worse case scenario the squad would earn $414,000 collectively under the terms of the contract offered by WICB to participate in the T20 World Cup 2016. That is just over 5%. A staggering difference, a near 80% reduction.”We want to propose we participate in the T20 World Cup 2016 under the same terms we have represented the West Indies in previous tournaments.”Please can you address this urgently. The T20 World Cup is just a matter of weeks away.”But the premise of Sammy’s argument was quickly dismissed by Michael Muirhead, the CEO of the WICB. He insisted that the sums mentioned in Sammy’s statement were “totally incorrect” and reminded the team that WIPA remains the “recognised collective bargaining representative of West Indies cricketers and therefore negotiates the remuneration between WICB and each West Indian player, whether such player is or is not a member of WIPA.””We are not sure where you obtained this information, but assure you it is totally incorrect,” Muirhead stated in connection with the $8m figure.”As a result of the ICC revamp which was agreed on 8 February 2014, the ICC has changed the manner in which distributions to Full Members in relation to ICC events are paid – starting from the ICC WT20 2016. These payments are now spread out and distributed over an eight-year cycle, rather than being paid out in a lump sum and attributed to any one event.”It is therefore not possible to identify a particular sum which will be paid to the WICB by the ICC in respect of the WT20 2016.”While it is true that WICB has previously calculated compensation to the ICC event squad members as a percentage of the ICC distribution received in relation to the particular event; because of the reason outlined above, it is not possible to calculate a percentage to be paid to the Squad, as the ICC distribution is no longer being made in the traditional manner.”The WICB, in recognition of this, and in an effort at fairness and transparency, allocates 25% of WICB revenues estimated over a four-year period – including ICC distributions – to players, through a guaranteed minimum revenue pool, out of which player payments are made.”Anything in excess of this minimum over the relevant four-year cycle, will be divided solely among the international players, as agreed with WIPA.”The remuneration to the players for the WT20 comprises an agreed match fee of three times the usual fee, plus 50% of the net proceeds of any sponsorship for the event, and 80% of any prize money earned by the team. Note that for this tournament, the prize money has increased substantially from the previous WT20, moving from a gross total of US$3million to US$5.6million, of which the winner will receive US$1.6million.”Muirhead signed off his reply by making it quite clear the WICB was not prepared to compromise.”We are unable to move the deadline of 2pm ECT on 14 February 2016 for receipt of the signed player contracts for the WT20 2016.”West Indies won the 2012 version of the tournament and recently returned to the top of the ICC T20 rankings. They are currently rated as the world’s second-best international T20 side.

The colour of the ball, sightscreen and clothing all changed and,half-way through, so did the weather. The West Indies’ cricket didn’tand they were beaten by Australia just as badly in the first match ofthe triangular Carlton Series of One-Day Internationals at theMelbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last night as they were in the fiveTests earlier.In heat that touched 39 degrees Celsius before a cool change droppedit 10 degrees in an hour, they bowled inconsistently, batted withoutpurpose, fielded shoddily and missed five catches. The World Cupchampions were virtually flawless in completing victory by 74 runs.The margin was even wider than it appeared. Batting under lights afterthe thermometer dipped, the West Indies were basically out ofcontention when Brian Lara was third out in the 19th over for 28. Theywere then 57 for three and never threatened to overhaul Australia’s267 for six after that.Marlon Samuels batted with the poise he showed in his three Tests totopscore with 57 from 96 balls. But, aged 19 and in his second One-DayInternational, his mission was simply damage limitation.He arrived in the sixth over after openers Wavell Hinds, caught in thegully, and Sherwin Campbell, taken at third man, had both beendespatched with only nine scored. Lara was dismissed by medium-pacerIan Harvey just when a stand with Samuels seemed to be developing,wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist snaring his edge as he did so often inthe Test series. Ricardo Powell lasted 27 precarious balls for 12before lobbing a catch to mid-on from off-spinner Andrew Symonds and,for the next 14.2 overs, Samuels and Ridley Jacobs batted aimlessly inadding 49.Once local favourite, Shane Warne, ended his spell of 10 overs in hisfirst international of the season, the crowd of over 50 000 took toamusing itself with Mexican waves and the antics of three pitchinvaders as the cricket became meaningless.Symmonds briefly drew their attention back to the middle by dismissingJacobs, Samuels and Mahendra Nagamootoo with the first, fourth andfifth balls of the 41st over. Captain Jimmy Adams, demoting himself toNo. 8, and Laurie Williams batted out the overs in an unbrokenpartnership of 54 but it meant nothing to patrons who were streamingout of the MCG long before the last ball was bowled.Australia’s total was based on a second-wicket partnership of 111 in22.2 overs between Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting after Nixon McClean’swell-judged, running catch at third man accounted for Adam Gilchristoff Cameron Cuffy in the third over.Waugh hoisted Cuffy for six 10 rows back into the seats in theMember’s Stand and had just passed 50 when he fell to another finecatch. He hoisted Laurie Williams and Hinds, moving in from long-on,ended the stand.The West Indies claimed the valuable wickets of the dangerous MichaelBevan, Ponting and captain Steve Waugh while limiting the scoring to49 between the 31st and 42nd overs. Ponting, let off by Williams on astraightforward catch in the deep when 32, fell to a sensational takeby Powell, sprinting in from deep square-leg and diving forward.Captain Waugh, in his 300th One-Day International, holed out to longoff from Samuels who, along with Nagamootoo, sent down his fullcomplement for ten overs of spin.At 193 for five in the 42nd over, the West Indies had chances to limitAustralia to under 250. They blew them as Powell and Williams bothdropped Symmonds, who added 74 off 52 balls with Martyn.Williams fell back so heavily on his head in muffing his chance atpoint, he had to leave the field for attention, adding injury toinsult. The last ten overs yielded 83, the last two brought 26, thelast, from McLean, 15. It carried Australia to a total that requiredbetter batting than the West Indies have shown all season and theynever looked like getting close.Australia play the third team in the tournament, Zimbabwe, at theGabba in Brisbane tomorrow and meet the West Indies again thefollowing day at the same venue.

First Division

Nottinghamshire wrapped up a seven-wicket win against Lancashire at Trent Bridge as Adam Voges and Mark Wagh steadied them following an early wobble against Sajid Mahmood in his first over of the day. Mahmood trapped Paul Franks lbw with a marginal decision then demolished Matthew Wood’s stumps to give Lancashire a sniff at 36 for 3. But Voges shut the door on them with 14 boundaries in his 60-ball innings alongside the composed Wagh. The 18-point victory consolidates Nottinghamshire’s position at the top of the table, an unlikely situation given the pre-season talk of them being likely relegation candidates. Stuart Law, the Lancashire captain, wasn’t impressed with the pitch which saw 20 wickets fall on the opening day. “I wouldn’t mind playing on a wicket that doesn’t go up and down and round corners on day one,” he told “It sort of makes batting quite difficult, we probably didn’t bat well enough but things lead to our demise.”Hampshire have given themselves a chance of victory against Surrey at The Rose Bowl despite being a bowler down due to Chris Tremlett suffered from back spasms. He was unable to bat as Hampshire added a 23 more runs to trail by 51 on first innings, but the remaining bowlers made swift inroads to leave Surrey 202 ahead with three wickets in hand. Dimitri Mascarenhas took two, including Mark Ramprakash for 9, before Sean Ervine claimed three middle-order scalps. Mark Butcher played round a straight ball while Usman Afzaal was well caught by Tim Burrows, the second-team keeper standing in for the injured Nic Pothas. However, from 74 for 7 Surrey were given a lifeline as Jimmy Ormond and Matt Nicholson added 76 to frustrate Hampshire’s ambitions of an early run chase.Sussex, the reigning champions, were forced to follow on at Taunton, and an early loss in their second innings left them facing a major task to avoid defeat against Somerset. Michael Yardy made 57 and Chris Adams scored 52 as Sussex struggled to 203 – they trailed by 354 on the first innings – but neither of their half-centuries was overly convincing. Adams was dropped three times and Yardy once on a rain-affected third day. They had lost Chris Nash fourth ball late on the second day but recovered to reach 100 for 1, before slumping to lose their next four for 18 runs. Ben Phillips (3 for 34) did for the top order, including Adams who was finally snared at square leg, and Peter Trego grabbed the last three wickets to finish with 3 for 49. Remarkably Sussex’s second effort started in even worse fashion than their first, with Nash bagging a pair after he was lbw to Charl Willoughby from the first delivery. Yardy finished unbeaten on 14 and Carl Hopkinson had 16 as Sussex reached 36 for 1, but there is plenty of work ahead of them on the final day.Click here for John Ward’s report of Durham‘s victory over Yorkshire inside three days at Chester-le-Street.

Second Division

Bottom-of-the-table Gloucestershire took control on the third day at New Road, where their under-strength attack troubled Worcestershire, who struggled to 189 for 9, still trailing by 255. Things started badly for the hosts when Daryl Mitchell retired hurt at the end of the fourth over after copping a bad bruise to the left elbow thanks to a rising ball from Will Rudge. That sparked a mini-collapse as Worcestershire wobbled to 52 for 3, despite facing a Gloucestershire line-up without Jon Lewis and Steve Kirby. Graeme Hick, who was returning from an elbow operation, did his bit to keep the score ticking over on the two-paced pitch with 60 from 62 balls. He dispatched a long-hop from the erratic Rudge over the boundary and managed another six off Anthony Ireland before falling to the medium pace of Alex Gidman, who had him caught at short midwicket. Steven Davies (32) resisted for a while but the lower order struggled and Rudge improved his ugly analysis with a pair of late wickets to finish with 3 for 67 from 12 overs. At 184 for 9 the follow-on was looming when Mitchell returned, but bad light ensured he would have a night’s rest before his sore elbow was truly tested.Charl Langeveldt sparked a Derbyshire fightback against Glamorgan with a spell of 5 for 22 in 6.5 overs on a day when only 30 overs were possible at Sophia Gardens. Langeveldt’s burst with the second new ball reduced Glamorgan from 345 for 4 to 384 all out. Langeveldt began by beating Mark Wallace’s defences and quickly worked his way through the tail. David Hemp had only added one to his overnight 103 before falling to Nayan Doshi, but rain arrived early in the afternoon session and didn’t relent.4th dayOnly 30 minutes play was possible on the final day at Grace Road, but it gave Leicestershire the chance to save themselves from a three-point over-rate penalty and for Northamptonshire to earn a third batting point. Claude Henderson and Jacques du Toit raced through 14.2 overs in the half hour of play as David Sales and Rob White took their stand to 145.

Match facts

October 2, 2012
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)Rohit Sharma has played an important role in knocking South Africa out of the World T20 before•Getty Images

Big Picture

The Group 2 matches on Sunday had big billings, but turned out to be far from closely fought. Australia are now the team to beat, and India, with all their selection headaches ahead of the game against Pakistan, ultimately eased to victory. That success will give India’s line-up some stability for their final game against South Africa. Their opponents, on the other hand, after a comprehensive defeat against Australia, desperately need to rebound, and rebound strongly, though even that may not be enough. The requirements for each team will be clearly laid out upon conclusion of the Australia-Pakistan game in the afternoon.Should Pakistan beat Australia, South Africa will bow out and they’ll be playing for pride against India. That would leave India needing to beat South Africa by a margin large enough to overtake either Pakistan or Australia’s net run-rate, depending on which of those teams is second in the table. Should Australia beat Pakistan, a win over South Africa will see India through. A win for South Africa, in the same situation, will bring it down to net run-rates between three teams – India, South Africa and Pakistan.India will be relieved, though concerns over Yuvraj Singh’s fitness, despite his impressive show against Pakistan, will remain. Their fifth bowler – the combination of Yuvraj and Virat Kohli – picked up three wickets, though it remains to be seen if they bring in an extra spinner against South Africa.South Africa’s problems against Xavier Doherty will prompt questions over how their batting will cope against India’s slow bowlers. Their fielding was off the mark and the pressure created by Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in their early spells proved unsustainable, as the rest of the bowling didn’t deliver. The concerns are multiple, as AB de Villiers has admitted, and the slide in form in the Super Eights has threatened to push them out of another ICC tournament. The right results and the right numbers, though, may yet rescue them.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
India: WLWWL
South Africa: LLWWL

Watch out for

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel bowled with pace, hit the right lengths, beat the bat and tested Australia’s opening pair in Colombo. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir can counterattack with equal ferocity, but their approach will be interesting to watch.Rohit Sharma, who’s been under pressure, has had a good outing in Sri Lanka so far and has also had his captain’s backing. He’ll look back on a crucial half-century he scored against South Africa in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, when an Indian win knocked the hosts out of the tournament.

Team news

Faf du Plessis was the South African to pad up and bat in the nets on the eve of the game, and he could well be picked in place of the struggling opener Richard Levi.South Africa (possible): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 JP Duminy, 5 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Robin Peterson, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Johan Botha, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel.South Africa have had issues against spin, and India could be tempted to play an extra specialist spinner. This could mean the impressive L Balaji may have to sit out.India (possible): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 R Ashwin, 11 Zaheer Khan.

Pitch and conditions

There was some early morning rain in Colombo on the eve of the match, but practice was unaffected. The forecast is for partly cloudy weather during the day, but clear skies at night.

Stats and trivia

• India have beaten South Africa in four of the six Twenty20 internationals between the teams, including twice in World Twenty20s.
• JP Duminy is 64 runs away from becoming the first South African to reach 1000 runs in T20 internationals.

Quotes

“The first match starts at 3:30 so we can watch on television if the ball is turning or not, since all teams have good spinners. That too has an impact on deciding the playing XI.”
“We haven’t played well enough in the key moments. We should have won the Pakistan game. It is disappointing that we have had opportunities to close out games and we haven’t done it.”