Barbados and West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Shane Dowrich has retained an attorney as he seeks redress over the process used by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to deny him a renewal of his contract.
The matter came to light earlier this week when Barbados Cricket Association President Conde Riley revealed that he had received a letter from the player’s attorney. This was highlighted on the Mason and Guest radio programme.
In May 2021, Cricket West Indies announced the players who had been retained for the next cycle and Dowrich was not among them. Dowrich, 30, last played in a Test for the West Indies from December 2-5, 2020, against New Zealand.
In the early stages of that tour, Dowrich suffered a finger injury but later asked to be released from the tour citing personal reasons.
However, according to his lawyer Philip Nichols, after being given leave from the West Indies, CWI then claims that he was not offered a new retainer contract because he had not played the requisite number of games to qualify for the said contract.
This is the bone of contention for the player, who at the time when he left New Zealand, was the first-choice wicketkeeper/batsman for the West Indies.
Dowrich was subsequently replaced by Trinidad and Tobago’s Joshua da Silva, who has, for the most part, acquitted himself well representing the West Indies as its wicketkeeper/batsman.
Following the New Zealand tour, CWI failed to follow up with the player to determine whether he had managed to put his ‘personal issues’ behind him and was now ready to return to representing the regional side.
Nichols told Sportsmax.TV that his client hopes to have the matter resolved amicably as it is not his intention for the matter to end up in court.
Dowrich has played 35 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 1,507 runs at an average of 29.07. He has scored three hundreds and nine fifties in that time. (Sportsmax)
