Darren Bravo left out of Trinidad & Tobago squad
The batsman's availability for the Nagico Super50 will depend on his meeting with the WICB, which has been pending
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Jan-2017
File photo: Darren Bravo was the top-scorer in the 2015-16 Nagico Super 50, though he played only three matches • AFP
Darren Bravo has been omitted by the defending champions Trinidad & Tobago from their squad for the Nagico Super50 tournament starting on January 24. He was served notice by the WICB to meet with them following a breach of contract last November and the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board has said they would rule on Bravo only after he sat down with the WICB.
"In furtherance to the team for the Super 50 do note that Darren Bravo's availability is dependent on the outcome of his pending meeting with the WICB," TTCB chief executive Suraj Ragoonath said.
Bravo's exclusion from the T&T squad has come after he made "disparaging" comments about board president Dave Cameron on Twitter last year. His match contract was cancelled and he was pulled out of the West Indies ODI team which had been in Zimbabwe at the time for a tri-series with the hosts and Sri Lanka.
In November, Cameron told Sports Max TV, a Caribbean television network, that Bravo was offered a grade C contract (the lowest of five grades) because of his declining averages over the last two years. He also questioned how a player would be motivated if he continued getting a grade A contract despite a slip in performances.
Bravo responded by tweeting: "You hav been failing 4 d last 4yrs. Y don't u resign and FYI I've neva been given an A contract. Big idiot @davec51."
In December, the WICB invited Bravo for a meeting to determine the way ahead. However, sources close to Bravo at the time indicated he did not oblige and instead served a legal notice to the WICB for dropping him from the Zimbabwe tour. Neither the WICB nor Bravo have revealed anything on subsequent developments.
T&T had won the title in 2015-16 with considerable help from Bravo, who was the top-scorer of the tournament with 274 runs in three matches, including a 97 in the final. His contributions offset the fact that big players like Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons were unavailable last season and remain so in 2016-17 as well.
Squad: Denesh Ramdin, Kyle Hope, Evin Lewis, Kjorn Ottley, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Alexis, Roshon Primus, Ravi Rampaul, Shannon Gabriel, Khary Pierre, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Imran Khan, Sheldon Cottrell, Rayad Emrit.