Unpaid salaries plunge Max60 Caribbean tournament in chaos with players refusing to play in the final stages.
Max60 Caribbean plunges into chaos over allegations of unpaid salaries.
With fixtures unfulfilled due to claims of unpaid salaries, a T10 competition in the Cayman Islands involving David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan, Alex Hales, and Carlos Brathwaite has been thrown into disarray.
Launched last year, the Max60 Caribbean event has been plagued by off-field problems in its second season. Players, most of whom had not received a payment that was supposed to be cleared 30 days prior to the tournament’s start, took strike action, leading to the cancellation of five games on Tuesday.
Max60 stated on Instagram on Tuesday night that all of the games had been cancelled “due to off-field issues” and that the final between the first- and third-place Caribbean Tigers and Vegas Vikings in the league table would take place on Thursday at 2 p.m. local time.
A “runner-up playoff” between the Grand Cayman Falcons (who finished fifth) and the Vegas Vikings, followed by a trophy presentation, took the place of the matchup on Wednesday morning after this post was removed.
The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) announced that the non-payment concerns were the most recent instance of contracts being viewed as “worthless pieces of paper” and backed the players in their strike action.
“It’s disappointing to hear that players still haven’t been paid what they’re owed under their contracts,” Tom Moffat, the WCA’s chief executive, said. “Players have fulfilled their commitments in good faith the whole way along, but it’s unreasonable for anyone to expect them to continue to turn up and put on the show if the terms of their contracts have flagrantly been breached.
“This isn’t an isolated or new issue. It’s another example of an officially sanctioned cricket event treating player contracts like worthless pieces of paper, and of the lack of protections for players who compete in events that have been sanctioned by the ICC or its members.
“There are simple solutions to these issues and the game’s global leadership and regulations should protect the whole sport, and people within it.”