WI breached ICC agreement by picking third-rate side: FICA

Melbourne:

FICA Chief Executive Tim May on Friday said that the West Indies Cricket Board has breached an ICC agreement by picking up a 'third rate' side for the Champions Trophy.

May contended that all the competing sides are required to field their best sides as per the ICC rules.

West Indies recently lost the home Test and one-day series to Bangladesh as 13 of their top players boycotted the matches owing to a contract dispute with the WICB.

Although the revolting players made themselves available for the Champions Trophy in return for mediation, the board stuck with the players who lost the Bangladesh series.

"...I would suggest that the West Indies' insistence on picking a third-rate side devalues that tournament (the Champions Trophy) and that pain is going to be shared by the rest of the cricketing nations," said May, CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers Association.

"I'd also suggest they are in breach of their agreement with the ICC, which says they must pick their best available team," he was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

The eighth-ranked West Indies, led by 37-year-old Floyd Reifer, comprises obscure veterans and raw rookies.

West Indies are scheduled to play Tests in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in November and December but May fears that only a depleted side would be chosen to travel down under.

"When they take their team abroad and treat the Champions Trophy as nothing more than a bargaining chip in their negotiations, then I think we have got some problems...

"The Australian tour is coming up later this year and there is no indication that the West Indies Cricket Board are going to select their best team, and in fact if they did my understanding is a significant number of the West Indies players would refuse to come because they have had enough of the WICB and how they have treated the players," he said.