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All-arounder Kyle Mayers, former captains Jason Holder
and Nicholas Pooran, and West Indies central contracts for 2023–24 have all
declined. However, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced in a statement
announcing 14 men’s contracts and 15 women’s contracts that the three will be
available for T20I series throughout the year.
Batters Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Tagenarine
Chanderpaul, and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie were among the four new faces
on the men’s list, while all-rounders Zaida James and Sheneta Grimmond made
their debuts on the women’s list.
Key players have already declined contracts with the
West Indies, including Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, and Chris Gayle back in
2010. This is not the first time that this has happened in an era of growing
workloads and T20 franchise leagues giving players alternatives to provide a
semblance of financial stability. More recently, Trent Boult, the speed demon
from New Zealand, opted out of his central contract in August of last year, yet
he still played for his nation in the 2023 World Cup. Ben Stokes signed a
one-year contract with England in October of this year, declining a three-year
offer.
It is unclear if this indicates that Holder (32), who
led the West Indies in 37 of his 64 Test matches and 86 of his 138 One-Day
Internationals, is done playing in the longer forms entirely. Pooran, 28, is
not a Test cricket player, but he has led his team in 17 One-Day Internationals
and has 61 caps in the competition. Mayers (age 31) has participated in 18
Tests and 28 ODIs. He is most known for striking a double hundred on his Test
debut, which helped a depleted West Indies team pull off an exciting victory in
Chattogram by chasing 395 against Bangladesh.
While Holder was released by the Rajasthan Royals and
will be seeking for a new contract at the auction on December 19, Mayers and
Pooran were retained by the Lucknow Super Giants for the 2024 Indian Premier
League. With MI Emirates having retained him for the ILT20, Pooran will have a
busy T20 season ahead of him. He will make his debut for Durban Super Giants at
the SA20 in January and then move to the UAE. The Men’s T20 World Cup, which
the West Indies and the United States are co-hosting in June, follows the IPL.
According to CWI, selection panel suggestions and
“player performance during the 2022 to 2023 evaluation period” were
taken into consideration when compiling the list of contracts.
“With a busy year of cricket ahead, in all three
formats, we have held several detailed discussions with the head coaches on the
brand of cricket they want to play,” West Indies men’s lead selector,
Desmond Haynes, said. “We are very clear in the direction we want to go.
The players who have been offered contracts are among those who we expect to
feature, as we look to build towards challenging for the top spot when we host
and compete in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on home soil. We also have away
Test series in Australia and England – these are two major assignments whilst
in the 50-over format we look to build a nucleus of players aimed towards the
ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027.”