Pollard, Smith abandon Barbados Tridents for IPL teams

The Barbados Tridents, who last weekend won US$250,000 for beating the Guyana Amazons to clinch the Limacol Caribbean Premier League 2014 title, will soon be US$300,000 richer.

Or will they?

Whatever the answer, one suspects that team management would somehow be happier without the money and with their two major local players, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Smith, and Pakistani foreign professional Shoaib Malik in their ranks next month when the Champions League T20 2014 bowls off on September 13.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago batsman Kieron Pollard will line up for the Mumbai Indians rather than Barbados Tridents in the Champions League T20.
Photo: Trinidad and Tobago batsman Kieron Pollard will line up for the Mumbai Indians rather than Barbados Tridents in the Champions League T20.

The trio were the major contributors to the Tridents’ CPL success, Pollard as captain if not so much as batsman (agg. 200, ave. 25), Malik (agg. 406, ave. 50.75) and Smith (agg. 353, ave. 44.12) with the bat. All three have, however, opted to represent other sides in the Champions League; Pollard will turn out for the Mumbai Indians while Smith and Malik will represent the Chennai Super Kings and Hobart Hurricanes respectively.


Unlike Malik, the Australian pair of George Bailey and David Miller have opted for the Kings XI Punjab over the Hobart Hurricanes. In fact, all eight IPL players selected by more than one team competing in this year’s edition of the lucrative tournament have chosen to represent their IPL franchise rather than their national domestic team.

Smith, Pollard, Malik and the two Aussies aside, Corey Anderson and Lasith Malinga will play for the Mumbai Indians instead of Northern Knights and Southern Express respectively and Pat Cummins and Jacques Kallis will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders and not the Perth Scorchers and the Cape Cobras.

All of these players were asked to indicate which side they preferred to represent and did so of their own free will. Once that was done, their “second” teams were permitted to replace them.

To replace the trio who have abandoned them, the Tridents have already named James Franklin, the left-handed New Zealand all-rounder who has played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors and for the Mumbai Indians, Dilshan Munaweera, the 25-year-old right-handed opening batsman and off-spinner from Sri Lanka, and Elton Chigumbura, the 28-year-old all-rounder from Zimbabwe.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago cricket star Dwayne Bravo (right) will represent the Chennai Super Kings at the Champions League T20.
Photo: Trinidad and Tobago cricket star Dwayne Bravo (right) will represent the Chennai Super Kings at the Champions League T20.

According to CLT20 governing council member Dean Kino, “CLT20 regulations state that when a player elects to play for their ‘away’ team, that team must pay the ‘home’ team $150,000 compensation per player. A ‘home’ team is classified as a team from the country a player is eligible to represent in international cricket.”

And that is where the questions arise about whether the Tridents will in fact collect any monies for the loss of their star players.

Despite the national identification that precedes the name of each of the six teams in the CPL, if ex-Spalk Minister Anil Roberts was right, these are franchises and not “national” teams. It is therefore debatable whether under the existing rules the Tridents qualify to claim the relevant compensation.

The compensation issue does not arise for several other CPL players who will also be participating in the 2014 CLT20, the main leg of which takes place from September 17 to October 4 in four Indian cities, Raipur, Mohali, Hyderabad and Bangalore.


Two qualifiers to play in each of the two groups in the main draw will be determined in the qualifying stage, involving the Lahore Lions, Mumbai Indians, Northern Knights and Southern Express. This phase begins on September 13 and runs to September 16.

Along with Jamaica Tallawahs all-rounder Andre Russell, mystery spinner Sunil Narine, who was left out of the West Indies Test squad that went down 1-2 to New Zealand in June, has been included in the Kolkata Knight Riders line-up. KKR play their first CLT20 game on September 17, the scheduled last day of the Second Test between West Indies and Bangladesh.

Photo: Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinidad and Tobago cricketer Sunil Narine (centre).
Photo: Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinidad and Tobago cricketer Sunil Narine (centre).

Other West Indian players who will participate in the Champions League are West Indies ODI captain Dwayne Bravo, successful T&T Red Steel leg-spinner Samuel Badree and Guyana Amazon Warriors’ opener Lendl Simmons, who was the Player of the Tournament in the CPL.

The first two will both represent the Chennai Super Kings while Simmons, whose 447 aggregate was the highest of this year’s CPL but who has struggled in the first two ODIs against Bangladesh, will don the Mumbai Indians’ colours.

Barbados Tridents squad: Jonathan Carter, Elton Chigumbura Shane Dowrich, Rayad Emrit, James Franklin, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Kyle Mayers, Neil McKenzie, Jeevan Mendis, Dilshan Munaweera, Ashley Nurse, William Perkins, Ravi Rampaul, Raymon Reifer.

GROUP A: Kolkata Knight Riders, Dolphins, Perth Scorchers, Chennai Super Kings, qualifier A

GROUP B: Kings XI Punjab, Cape Cobras, Hobart Hurricanes, Barbados Tridents, qualifier B.

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About Earl Best

Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970's. He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.

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75 comments

  1. In football, when Dwight Yorke goes from St Clair Coaching School to Aston Villa the home association gets a percentage (usually between 5 and 15 percent) of the transfer.
    Why would the various cricket boards simply hand their players over to the CPL with nothing in return? That seems like suicide to me.

  2. I doubt the Barbados cricket board will get (or is entitled) to anything since the players do not represent or belong to the Cricket Board. I believe the Tridents will get money.

  3. That was before the CPL Kierron Yip Ngow. They were playing for Trinidad and Tobago then. But they are not now. So I’m curious.

  4. Anthony Deyal, I’m interested to know if the Barbados cricket board or Trinidad and Tobago got anything. Or if the franchise took it all.

  5. Ye Mr Vidal, I’m aware of these peculiar realities of CPL, which is why I personally find the tournament very strange & useless to cricket.

    Why was the CPL ever created by 3 cricket boards is the question? For a tournament that involves all of the top clubs/counties/states/franchises in the 10 test playing nations – why doesn’t the International cricket council have control over it?

    For me its just another of how lame duck & useless an governing body the ICC is & C’League is just another example for the rich indian business men to flaunt their riches & bully world cricket.

    I also don’t buy the reasoning that players are simply choosing the play for IPL teams just because of the better deal. Evidence with what happened with Trinidad in past tells me otherwise as this portion of article states: http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2013-01-26/are-ipl-clubs-putting-pressure-players

    ” I have in my possession a copy of the contract for players taking part in the Champions League.

    Section 2.7 states that the player is free to play for their country and there is no situation where the home board has to buy out any contract from an IPL club. The players can play for their country and their country doesn’t have to pay their clubs anything.

    On the other hand, if a player decides to play for his club, then his home board gets a transfer fee of US$150,000. The Hon Minister of Sport Anil Roberts then made a tremendous effort last season to get Pollard, Bravo and Narine to play for T&T. He went to Cabinet and was able to get TT$5M to deal with the three players. Out of this sum, TT$3.3m would have gone to the players because this was what they would have earned by playing for the their clubs, and Roberts was left with TT$1.7m to negotiate performance-based bonuses for the players.

    Well, in the end the players did decided to play for their clubs still and this begs the question, why? There must have been something other than a Champions League contract binding the players to their clubs.

    Now is the time for the players to come out and tell the population what is going on. It seems from my distant view that the IPL teams are pressuring the players to play for them. I have been to three Champions League tournaments as a journalist and have noticed very keenly the working of this tournament.

    This tournament is geared towards the Indian teams, and is of course controlled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Imagine, after all their efforts, the T&T team still has to go through a qualification phase of the tournament, while up to the fourth place IPL team gets in—unbelievable. Is this a true Champions League?

    Well, in my opinion this is just another tournament for Indian businessmen to play with their very expensive toys and hence they would do everything in their power to have the best players play for them. It matters not to them whether a strong T&T team puts in a magnificent showing in order to spark interest among youths in the Caribbean. It is all about the IPL, and if you are ever lucky enough to witness the Champions League you would see even the fixtures are tailored to the IPL teams. I guess this is a situation where money talks and, well,…you know the rest.”

  6. From what I understand, when the team in the league was the Trinidad and
    Tobago Team, the TTCB got money for the players (I read somewhere
    US$150,000). I believe the Tridents will receive the same per player from
    the Mumbai Indians.

    I am always glad for the cricketers and former cricketers who get the opportunity to make some money.

    Tony

  7. Lasana Liburd From how I understand it, regional boards don’t get compensated for their players in CPL. The CPL is essentially WICB cash cow for new revenue in the future. As we all know they struggle to get sponsors for domestic events from co-operate Caribbean & up until the recent ICC revamp, they could only depend on money internationally when they play India & England at “home”. Thus for a long time WICB has always been operating in the financial red zone.

    So I guess, the territorial boards will get money from the CPL cash cow in other ways.

    From IPL yea home board gets US$150,000 if player goes to IPL. TTCB got a lot of money from this over the years. But I’m not sure now that we have franchise cricket in Caribbean if the territorial boards will get this compensation money or the franchise team itself. The Barbados cricket board & Barbados trident are two different teams ha..

  8. The story says that they are allowed replacements and goes on to identify the replacements:
    “To replace the trio who have abandoned them, the Tridents have already named James Franklin, the left-handed New Zealand all-rounder who has played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors and for the Mumbai Indians, Dilshan Munaweera, the 25-year-old right-handed opening batsman and off-spinner from Sri Lanka, and Elton Chigumbura, the 28-year-old all-rounder from Zimbabwe.”

  9. Lasana Liburd maybe you are right that I should take a break from domestic politics and write on cricket. There are a few ‘realities’ that people are taking for granted IMO. Firstly the T20 Champions League was created by the England, Australia, India and South African cricket boards. That means ‘politically’ that their teams take first preference. It’s not just CPL teams that get shafted. It is also important this discussion to remove our idea of country. None of the Caribbean countries are recognised in International Cricket.

  10. Was Red Force compensated for Pollard last year ?

  11. Yes, they can get replacements. Although it appears that they will not select replacements from the West Indies.

  12. one has to be a fool to think Pollard & Smith will abandon their IPL teams for Tridents, BT cud pay Pollard

  13. All well and good but it means the Tridents, the lone Caribbean representative in the competition, will be much weaker. Anyone knows if they can buy or rent replacements/reinforcements for the Championship?

  14. Cricket is a multi-billion dollar business. Essentially the guys have a choice between two contracts – one with more money and better long term contracts and the other with less money and while the prospects are good, the BCCI/IPL is the best. There is no room for sentiment here whether it is Dwayne the Barbadian or Pollard the Trini. Professional cricketers have a relatively short shelf-life and have to make all the money to keep them throughout their lives (only a few end up with really high paying jobs) in (on average) a twelve-year period. I am glad that the boys have a choice and prospects since the days when the WICB offered them a pound a day (take it or leave it). And, it is truly a franchise – like a choice between KFC and Church’s or Royal Castle. Does it matter if you’re from Kentucky, a Christian or Prince Charles?

  15. There is no need for Rampaul or Holder to play against a weak arse team like Bangladesh other players can take their place let them play CL. Same thing applies to Gayle, Bravo. It will be interesting to see the Tridents starting 11 they will miss Smithy, Malik and Pollard a lot. The lineup should be Perkins, Carter, Munaweera, Reifer, Holder, Franklyn, Mayers, Mendis, Nurse, Emrit, Rampaul. Not too may big hitters who can clear the fences but a decent bowling unit. Franklyn and Holder must clear the ropes with big hitting so too Carter, Reifer and Perkins. If Mayers gets his inswinging Yorker going he should be handful in tandem with Rampaul, Holder and Emrit. Good luck to the boys in blue.

  16. If Trinidad and Tobago cricket is not benefiting financially from the CPL and from its players being bought and sold, then it has the West Indies Cricket Board to thank for that.
    And if the regional cricket boards sat around and swallowed that…
    Let me hope that the CPL offered a respectable package to the WICB and the member associations got reasonable figures from that.

  17. I think Tridents will get money for their non representation so Tridents better off

  18. Correct Peter. Now we are left to wonder if we will be adequately represented in the CPL. This would have been the case no matter which team won. I guess they will have to draft players from other franchises whose teams are not in the CPL.

  19. I have no problem with these brothers making their money. The way the board n selectors treat them, let them make their money when n where they can. More power to them.

  20. that was expected……which team u think would b in a position to pay them more?!?!

  21. Exactly – and that is what buying and selling means. At one time Chris Gayle, who I really like, was so caught up in it he dissed the tests in favour of the T20 franchised matches.

  22. Last year, CPL started on the heels of the Caribbean T20 which was the original qualifying tournament for Champions League for the West Indies. The winner of the inaugural CPL was never going to go. Perhaps CPL should have started this year instead. Anyway, Kieron Pollard plays for the Mumbai Indians, not Chennai Super Kings. Regardless of who won CPL, the respective West Indian IPL players would have always gone on to play for their IPL teams that qualified for CLT20. I believe it was a stipulation in the regular IPL season contract. So guess what, had the Amazon Warriors won they would have been without Sunil Narine (KKR) and Simmons (Mumbai).

  23. they say Barbados Tridents is not a country, but a franchise. so no biggie!

  24. That is the policy Colin. They said that last time. Let us see if they are made to regret.

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