WICB contract omissions to serve as a wake up call

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief selector, Clyde Butts, says the omission of top players Jerome Taylor, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Denesh Ramdin and Narsinghe Deonarine from their retainer contracts list does not been mean they will not be selected the upcoming series against Sri Lanka later this year.

Butts says their omission only serves as a wake up call.

“Not because you haven’t been given a central contract doesn’t mean that you are unavailable to be selected for West Indies cricket. I think you have a choice now to go back and work hard and show selectors that you are more than capable of serving on a West Indies team,” Butts said.

Taylor, Sarwan, Ramdin and Deonarine were all glaring omissions from the WICB central retainer and developmental contracts list issued earlier this week with the players being singled out for their lack of fitness and lack of commitment towards recovering from injuries over the past year.

Meanwhile, Ramnaresh Sarwan says he was not surprised at being overlooked for a central retainer contract by the West Indies Board.

Sarwan is one of six players dumped from the list of 14 offered contracts by the WICB, due to “unsatisfactory” levels of general fitness.

The batsman told reporters that he continued to be fully committed to representing the West Indies and at this point he is “fitter than I was a year ago”. 

Sarwan does not think the WICB's decision will be a distraction to him leading Guyana at the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa starting next week.