Samuels blames WIPA president

Kingston (Jamaica), Oct 29 (IANS/CMC) Middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels has blamed West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) president Wavell Hinds for the circumstances which forced the players to abandon their tour of India.

Samuels said the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is not at fault since the players are upset with Hinds over the terms and conditions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), signed recently between the WICB and WIPA, reports CMC.

The tour was abandoned after the fourth One-Day International (ODI) in Dharamsala with a fifth match in Kolkata and a single Twenty20 International in Cuttack remaining and with the Test series due to start later.

"If you look at the situation, the real, real person here to be blamed is WIPA. Wavell Hinds, the president, that basically messed up everything,” said Samuels, who had refused to be a member of WIPA claiming the player’s body did not support him when he was serving a two-year ban for having links with an Indian bookmaker.

“If you look at the situation you can't really blame the WICB for accepting what Wavell has done. Wavell is the main problem here. The players are upset with what Wavell has done. But remember I am not part of WIPA."

Players have argued that the new agreement results in a drastic reduction in their earnings and have called for a return to the old CBA. They have also called for Hinds’ resignation and wrote to inform the WICB that WIPA no longer had the authority to act as their bargaining agent.

Samuels, who scored two centuries during the shortened tour, also criticised WICB president Dave Cameron for not intervening.

"All situation is handled badly. Wavell is wrong. The WICB president should have taken a flight down to India and come and have a talk. To sit in the Caribbean and not come and speak to the players cannot be the right way to deal with things. So right across the board it is wrong," Samuels said.

Representatives of the three disputing factions - WICB, WIPA and the players - met in Jamaica Monday to start talks aimed at resolving the impasse.

--IANS/CMC