You must remember that these island nations that form the WI are third world countries and the great majority of the WI players probably grew up with no money at all. Test players in the WI are paid peanuts but if they play T20 they get rich contracts in the IPL and Big Bash and be seen as kings. If you have a lot of money in a place like the West Indies you are a hero.
Here in Australia we don't have problems like that and never will
Oh if you have money anywhere, there is a hero element - Rockefeller, Carnegie,Warren Buffet, Bill Gates etc.
But yeah, Cricket Australia can pay David Warner say 2 million a year - plus his IPL deal and endorsements. If he stops being rude to Indian cricketers and continues to blitz the IPL then he'll collect some of those in India too. Australia tour England as the "second test tour" after a shorter test tour to warm the Poms up, so the IPL is pretty much complete by the time he is on Ashes call up. So Davey gets all his IPL dollars pending a late Windies tour.
West Indies either need to fix their shit with these guys refusing to play test cricket or be relegated to minnow status for the longer version of the game, it's a joke how bad they are at test cricket, you need to take 20 wickets to win a game, they'll be going well to take 10
Look at the players in the big bash right now, Bravo, Russell, Sammy, Badree.. I am sure there are more too, if they're not hurting watching their national team getting absolutely murdered then they shouldn't be playing cricket
I can't even imagine if someone like David Warner said to CA "oh I would much rather play T20 cricket", which is basically what Chris Gayle has done, like for like example
Really, because Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and many other players have retired from international and played T20. Maybe you think Gayle is younger.
Either way, you need to think about Professional Cricketers playing cricket as a job, and a national employer I guess could be likened to working a government job, and T20 could be likened to the private sector. Payment for the job is a factor in choosing employment. So are the hours, physical stress and enjoyment of the job.
Further, Bravo did well on one tour to Australia in test cricket. I doubt he would improve the team. He has a test bowling average of 40, and a batting average of 30. Thats not good for an allrounder. Not good at all.
Sammy is no good as a test player. He bowls too slow to get wickets and averages 36. Economical, but no wickets.
Russell is not really a test bowler in my view, but he does have a good FC record. However, he has played 17 FC over 8 years. He does not want the bowling workload. His body does not like it - and he wouldn't be bowling at 140 like he does for 4 overs, if he had to bowl 20. That is why he has played one test. A total failure at that.
Badree has not played a FC since 2009. He averages 37.5 with the ball. He is another leg spinner joining the growing list of Brad Hogg, Imran Tahir, Ish Sodhi etc who is an average red ball bowler who struggles for wickets but bowls economically in the pyjama clothing game which is probably due to batsmen being concerned about googlies, and an in and out defensive field keeping the economy rate down and not worried about wickets.
Gayle has a bad back. But even if he was fit, what right does any man have to say to him to not play for big money but to play for small money for yours and their entertainment in test cricket? He does not want to be in the West Indies or in England when the IPL is being played. He wants all his IPL match fees. And he can continue past 40 in T20, and not exhaust and injure himself and break his back playing test cricket. What you rather have, $200,000 for being the best West Indian player playing all the tests, ODI's and T20I's, all those days on tour, or the 5 or 6 T20 tournaments for 2 million, maybe more dollars a year. Which would you choose? He has achieved a lot in test cricket already, 2 tripples - so work far less in T20, for far less of the year, for far more money in the millions or work harder and longer for far less money but make Australians happier with their boxing day test opposition and earn a tenth or less than T20. Might even win more games and accolades playing the T20 in a team with good bowlers in their sides and better batsmen to bat with.
He can just sing and dance in the T20 carnival and get rich. And good on him. He is the best T20 batsman around. He has specialized and chosen his career path. He has the right to choose his employers.
NZ has just lost BMac to the T20 circuit. He has his massive IPL deal - a 3 year BBL deal (first year of which is now), just announced a new NatWest Blast deal, he will be in the BPL and CLT20, probably the PSL. Earns him far more than his $200K New Zealand contract.
NZC had to let IPL players Anderson, Boult, BMac and others join the England tour after the warmup tour games, so that they would make themselves available for the tests without a show down with NZC. Their IPL deals are worth far more than NZC can pay them. They missed the IPL finish but got 2 or 3 more weeks of IPL wages.
The T20 dollar is going to impact on all nations outside England, Australia, and India drastically because only those 3 countries can and does pay its players above the IPL salary level - but even England and Australia nations will lose the experienced domestic players staying around to teach their skills. The likes of KP, Watto and Hodge will join the T20 circus when no longer wanted at international level and losing those 700,000 pound and over a million dollar Australian central contracts.