Delhi: The news of West Indies cricket being in trouble is not new, even today when in almost every cricket country the match and contract fees of players increase with time, there is news from West Indies that not only are players' salaries being cut, but they are also stopping playing tournaments. Why has this situation arisen?

West Indies has given cricket some of its greatest players, there is bound to be concern about the current state of cricket there. This new decision of Cricket West Indies is not a small cost-saving exercise. The retainer fees of international players will be reduced by 25 percent, while the 12-month contract of domestic players will now be reduced to only 7 months. Also, the men's Super 50 and women's T20 Blaze tournaments have been suspended for the coming season. The issue is the reason for all this.

If earnings did not increase, the board was forced to cut expenses.

Cricket West Indies has clearly stated that lack of money is the biggest reason behind all this and the difficulty is so great that it has now become impossible to ignore. They have followed the path which they have understood, i.e. if the income is not increasing, then reduce the expenses.

In fact, the biggest problem facing Cricket West Indies is the structure of traditional domestic cricket, which is not bringing any money for the board.

One team, but the expenses of domestic cricket are manifold

Let us tell you that even though West Indies is a team in international cricket, it is actually a team made up of players from many Caribbean countries. For this reason, the structure of domestic cricket is very spread out, which makes organizing it expensive.

Transporting players and support staff from one island to another in every tournament is a problem that no other cricket board is facing. In this way, the board is already meeting the expenses of salaries, match fees, air travel, accommodation and organizing expenses for age-group, development and senior men's and women's cricket tournaments.

The board says that in the last 15 years, more than US$ 80 million has been spent on domestic airlines and that too without sponsorship. In such a situation, how will cricket bear its expenses? Every new tournament means another huge bill for flights, hotels and logistics in different regions.

Why did the tournament have to be stopped?

It is a compulsion of the board. That is why Super 50 and T20 Blaze has been stopped for one season. The traditional way in which these games are being played is making it difficult to meet their expenses.

The problem is that all these cuts are happening at a time when there is already a drought in the supply chain of young and good talent for West Indies cricket. Now reducing expenditure in cricket means a direct impact on the system which produces international cricketers.

If Super 50 stops, who will give new player to ODI team?

Super 50 is the tournament which provides players to the West Indies ODI team. At present, there is already a question mark on the ODI record of the West Indies team.

They missed out on playing the 2023 World Cup and will now have to go through the qualifying round for the 2027 tournament. The qualifiers are to be held in February-March 2027. Better preparation is needed for this, but here the players have got entangled in another problem.

To compensate for this, white ball matches are being played against the England A team in November, after which a camp will also be held, but it cannot completely replace the domestic tournament.

Franchise cricket also increased the problems of West Indies

An even bigger crisis is the growing attraction of franchise cricket. When players can earn good money from leagues around the world, why should they sometimes take the central contract of their board which binds them to play international cricket?

The talent is going out of there. On the other hand, with its new action, West Indies Cricket itself is reducing the financial value of its central contract.

International players will now remain under the contract of the board for 12 months, but the retainer fee will be reduced by 25 percent, while the retainer of domestic players will be for seven months i.e. the fee will be less. So what will they do in the remaining months? For that they need money and exposure.

Got loan from ICC, but what is the way forward?

By the way, where will the money come from in the future? In July this year, ICC gave a loan of US $ 16 million to Cricket West Indies, the amount of which is being paid in three annual installments.

If the money received every year from ICC to pay this will be cut, what will we do next? That's why we are trying to reduce our expenses from now on.

Does the question also arise on the funding system of ICC?

A tricky question here is whether ICC's method of giving funding to every board every year is right? Is the ICC giving West Indies cricket the annual funding it needs to survive in the face of rising inflation?

This is the question whose answer may be important not only for West Indies cricket but for the entire international cricket system in the future.