The West Indies Players Association has hit back at the former West Indian greats, Michael Holding and Clive Lloyd, saying that they had no business to criticize them without understanding the gravity of the situation.
Lloyd had earlier mentioned that the WIPA is only interested in strengthening their bank balance, where as Holding had criticized them for apparently settling some old scores. Dinanath Ramnaraine is the chief of the WIPA and had joined the body after he had thought that he had been wrongly treated by the board.
The WIPA has said that Holding did not have any substantial evidence to prove what he had said. The WIPA also said that Holding was airing his personal views in the topic.
The players’ body then gave the example of the World Series Cricket to take on Lloyd. They said that Lloyd had no right to term the players as greedy, since even he had coerced his own players to give up on playing for the West Indies and played two seasons of WSC. This meant that the West Indies cricket board had to field a second string team, but nobody called him greedy.
They said, “Unlike the IPL in which Chris Gayle and others are involved and which is recognised by the ICC, WSC was not sanctioned by this body. Lloyd and his team blazed the path for better remuneration for players by participating in the WSC”
They added that the WIPA never thought that Lloyd did it for greed!