Cricket

HINDS, BADREE RETRUNED – NEW WIPA EXECUTIVE ELECTED

Kingston, JAMAICA. At its Annual General Meeting, held at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad on January 5th, the West Indies Players Association elected its new Executive to serve the region’s professional cricketers.

The Executive, which was elected unopposed, is made up as follows:

President – Wavell Hinds (returning)

Vice-President – Patterson Thompson

Treasurer – Nixon McLean

Secretary – Wayne Lewis

Assistant Secretary – Samuel Badree (returning)

Hinds, who has been a member of WIPA’s Executive since 2002, serving as Treasurer for 4 years, and Vice-President for 6 years, under Dinanath Ramnarine, had been the interim President for the past 9 months and was delighted at the continued opportunity to serve the players.

“I am deeply committed to the work which WIPA has been and is doing on behalf of our membership, and I look forward to working with our new Executive, along with our staff in furthering our objectives. 2013 will be a challenging year for WIPA and its members as we continue to try and build a partnership type environment between ourselves and the WICB. High on the agenda will be the issues surrounding the terms and conditions in the contracts for retained players, improved fees for first-class cricketers, and negotiations with Verus International and the WICB regarding the proposed Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Of course, there are also the ongoing and pending legal matters which are to be decided and heard during the upcoming year”

The new members of the Executive, Patterson Thompson and Nixon McLean, both former West Indian fast bowlers, from Barbados and St Vincent respectively, along with Wayne Lewis, the hard-hitting former Jamaican opening batsman were all keen on serving on the Executive. Thompson, currently a commercial airline pilot, was enthusiastic about his nomination.

“I consider it an honour to be nominated, and look forward to working on behalf of the players in whatever way I can. I strongly believe in the value that the Players’ Association provides to all first-class cricketers in the region.”

At the meeting the membership was addressed by CEO of the WICB, Michael Muirhead, who expressed the WICB’s strong desire “to work in collaboration with WIPA and the players, as part of a single Caribbean cricket family.”

Former President & CEO Dinanath Ramnarine spoke to the meeting about their beneficial ownership in WIPMACOL, and advised that each member would shortly be issued with individual share certificates confirming this ownership.

WIPA’s CEO, Michael Hall also spoke at the AGM and advised members that the Association’s audited financial statements for the years ended December 31st, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were now complete and available to the membership on request. An update was also provided on the outstanding legal matters which would affect the players, including the matter of the WICB’s attempt to unilaterally terminate the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for which a decision is expected in a month’s time. Information about the proposed Caribbean Premier League was also provided to the players.

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