On the eve of their upcoming series in India, West Indies cricketers have been hit with the news that they will face pay cuts. The Windies arrived in the south Indian town of Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday morning and are preparing for the first match on Sunday afternoon.
NATIONNEWS understands Cricket West Indies (CWI) delivered the news that men’s players on central contracts will be forced to take a 25 percent cut starting next month and running to September 2027. This came following re-negotiations of the final year of the present Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). This meeting was held in Barbados last weekend as several officials attended the final of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) finals.
Members of the CWI hierarchy held an online meeting to outline the new measures. Also, present were members of the West Indies women’s team who are in Zimbabwe to play six matches. Attempts to get a response from CWI over the last 24 hours has proven futile.
Professional contracts will be reduced significantly. For the men’s regional contracts it will run for seven months from October 2026 to April 2027 – instead of the full 12 months as was previously the case. There will be no regional senior men’s Super50 tournament later this year. The marquee white ball event, which is broadcast on ESPN, was slated for Antigua in November.
Earlier this year CWI detailed they received a loan of US$12.82 million (approximately BDS$25.6 million) from the International. Cricket Council (ICC) which was approved at the annual board meeting of the world governing body in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The funding was seen as a temporary lifeline following a net loss of US$28 million for the financial year ending September 2025, alongside a projected US$26 million loss for the 2026 financial cycle. At the time CEO Chris Dehring welcomed the funds but stated there was a need to solve the deeper, structural financial challenges facing West Indies cricket. (PS)
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