St John’s, ANTUGUA – Cricket West Indies (CWI) has reached an agreement towards a temporary player amnesty based on the existing participation rules.

The current rules stipulate that players participate or make themselves available for the domestic tournaments in the formats of the cricket they wish to play at the elite level. CWI Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Johnny Grave, following meetings with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) says “the agreement forms part of a wider strategy to be more inclusive and to improve player relations aimed at re-engaging all players within our system so that they can perform at their best for the WINDIES Teams.”

The CEO also noted that a working group of the Cricket Committee is due to present their findings on player eligibility criteria this month end. Those recommendations will be tabled at the next quarterly Board of Directors meeting, due mid-September.  Whilst these recommendations are being considered all CWI registered players will be available for selection.

“We recognize that it is highly unlikely that we will now automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup, so whilst the qualifying tournament has yet to be confirmed by ICC, we may only have eight (8) ODIs against England and New Zealand in the next six months to prepare.  It is crucial that we can have our best performing WINDIES players available for selection in these important games,” indicated the CEO.

Also to come on stream is a registration process which will seek to “compile the full list of all players in the Windies system, male and female and all age groups,” added President, Dave Cameron.

With the registration guidelines to be ready by October 2017, the President believes that “this will show commitment on the part of the players to be available for the format/s of the game they wish to play; a commitment to participate in the regional set-up and to honour the system to be in place by then.” Ideally “we must be able to identify the full slate and categories of players we have in the West Indies,” the President emphasized.

The WINDIES Team is being prepared for the qualification process for the 2019 World Cup and all measures are being put in place for the team to secure a spot. The WINDIES are currently in ninth place.

The region’s premier Super50 is scheduled for late January into February 2018. The WINDIES Men’s team will depart the region end of July for a 10-week tour of the UK.

CWI Media Release