Michael Holding defends T20 players in country vs club debate

“What we need to recognise in the Caribbean is that we need cash to care. We are cursing cricketers at the moment for not making themselves available to West Indies to play in a lot of our tournaments and a lot of our series around the world but we have to recognise that cricket today is a career and a living. Cricketers, and sportspeople in general, do not have a long time at their sport or their profession so they have got to maximise their earnings,” he said.

“While they’re playing this sport they’re not going to university, they’re not learning a trade — they’re just playing the sport and working hard at the sport. At the end of them playing the sport they can’t now start a new career so they have got to maximise their earnings and make sure that they are fairly comfortable — or as comfortable as they possibly can be — when their career ends.”