Lawyer demands CWI pay prize money and match fees

Attorney-at-law Phillip Nicholls has written to Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Chris Dehring, calling for the immediate payment of prize money and match fees to players involved in the abandoned final of the 2024 CG United Super50 Cup.

Nicholls, who represents Barbados Pride captain Raymon Reifer, issued the letter following the recent resolution of the disciplinary case involving his client. The veteran attorney argues that with the charges against Reifer now dismissed, there is no valid justification for CWI’s continued withholding of the US$100 000 winner’s prize and associated players’ fees.

“Now that the issue with Reifer is settled,” Nicholls told Sportsmax TV, “I have written CWI requesting that the prize money and players’ fees be paid, as they have not only been withheld without any justification but without giving the BCA a hearing to discuss their action.”

The controversy stems from the rain-affected final on November 23, 2024, between Barbados Pride and Jamaica Scorpions. Both teams failed to take the field following extensive weather delays, and match referee Reon King subsequently charged both Reifer and Scorpions captain John Campbell with Level 3 offences for failing to appear for the coin toss.

While Campbell accepted the charge and received a four-match suspension, Reifer contested the process. The CWI Disciplinary Committee later ruled that the referee had no jurisdiction to pursue the charges and ordered that all charges against Reifer be dropped. CWI was also directed to pay Reifer’s legal costs.

In the wake of the abandoned match, CWI declared the contest a double forfeit and announced that no champion would be named, with no prize money or match fees to be awarded to either side.

However, a statement from the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has challenged that position, emphasising that the issue of financial penalties was never adjudicated.

“The Committee also made no ruling on the prize money issue and on the payment of the players’ fees because those issues were never before it — the sole issue being the legality of the purported charges against Raymon,” the BCA said in its statement.

The BCA also noted that the players have never had an opportunity to present their side of the story in any formal hearing, as preliminary objections raised by Reifer’s legal team led to the charges being thrown out before a full examination of the events could take place.

“In a press release of April 5, CWI suggested that the two captains escaped sanction on a technicality and reiterated the fact that as there was no toss, there was a clear breach of the rules and spirit of the game,” the BCA said. “It is important to note that the committee made no reference to Mr  Campbell in its ruling on the Reifer matter.”

The BCA confirmed that it has since raised the matter of non-payment through legal channels and remains confident of a resolution through further dialogue with CWI.

With the disciplinary proceedings behind them, Nicholls and the BCA are now pressing for what they believe is overdue compensation to players who were denied the chance to compete through no fault of their own.

(Story credit: Sportsmax TV)