CRICKET IS the priority and should never be bowled over by a pay dispute.
West Indies Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy made that assertion in his first major interview since the regional team’s ill-fated tour of India, which ended prematurely last month due a pay dispute between the players and their representative body, which the regional board was unable to resolve.
Speaking in South Africa, where he is representing the Titans in the RamSlam T20 Challenge, Sammy said it was unfortunate that the Indian cricket fans were robbed of an opportunity to see the Caribbean cricketers play because of the dispute.
“What I will say on this is – there should never be a situation where the on-field play is stopped because of a dispute. Whichever board member, player or player association, cricket should always be No. 1,” Sammy said.
“It is very sad what happened in India. I don’t wish for that to ever happen again. The fans who love to see us play were robbed of an opportunity to see the West Indies play and it is unfortunate. I hope that whatever relationship we had with India – between boards, between players, between players and fans – goes back to where it was before,” he added.
Sammy said he was confident the relationship between the West Indies and India won’t be fractured forever.
“Of course! We are going to be back. We have had a great relationship with India,” he said.
Even though he retired from Test cricket, earlier this year, Sammy believes it is still the ultimate format of the game but made it clear he won’t be reversing his decision.
“I have no regrets. I have moved on from that. My sole focus is on playing One-Day and T20 cricket for West Indies.” (EZS)
