The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has moved to clarify its stance over retired stars currently playing in the Masters Champions League, stating that those participating in the UAE tournament were clear that it meant the end of their international careers.
Tino Best, Krishmar Santokie, Fidel Edwards and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were all granted the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) necessary to participate in the MCL.
According to a WICB press release issued on Wednesday, the board issued the NOCs “on the basis that the players were well aware of their decisions to retire from international and therefore allowing them to be eligible for participation in the inaugural tournament.”
The four players who were granted the NOCs are were sent the WICB’s rules in the last week of January before they each signed “official letters of resignation”.
The original WICB letter stated: “We wish to advise that the MCL is for players who have announced their retirement from International cricket. Kindly advise by 4:30pm Eastern Caribbean Time on Saturday 23 January, 2016 in writing if you have retired from International cricket.
“Should you not indicate by the deadline we will be forced to revoke any NOC issued for the tournament.”
One of the guarantees that had to be given by the MCL in order to gain ICC approval was that all participants were to be retired from international cricket, with both the Pakistan Cricket Board and WICB raising the issue with the ICC prior to the tournament’s start last week.
The stipulation caused confusion with some international boards, with the line between what constituted a retired player initially somewhat blurred.
MCL CEO Zarah Shah moved to make the league’s stance clear in an interview with Sport360, saying: “Our clear, main focus has always been to provide a tournament for players who are retired and we didn’t want to hurt any boards.
“We had people come to us and ask if they could play if they’d only retired from T20 cricket but we didn’t want to upset any boards. It wouldn’t be right and we wanted to make sure we had a clear goal across the board.”
Edwards has already featured in the tournament for the Leo Lions, as have Best and Santokie with the Sagittarius Strikers. Chanderpaul, however, is yet to play for his Gemini Arabians franchise.