“We have the right to say no to him”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

West Indies captain Jason Holder will not participate in the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) after he failed to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Holder was picked by the Quetta Gladiators in the player draft on December 21, but the WICB have made it clear that his primary objective is to serve West Indies cricket.

Upon being informed that he would not be granted a NOC, Holder took to Twitter to express his disappointment, saying: “Thanks @TeamQuetta for the opportunity. I was not granted an NOC by @westindies and won’t be able to join. Best wishes #maybeoneday.”

WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead revealed that since Holder recently signed a fresh retainer contract, it gave the board authority to grant to deny him permission to play in overseas domestic Twenty20 tournaments.

“He is a retained player. So it gives us a right to say to a retained player, if you request a NOC in a time, that we have something geared towards the development of West Indies cricket, and then we have the right to say no to him,” Muirhead told ESPNcricinfo.

Muirhead added that Holder also has to captain Barbados in the ongoing Nagico Super-50 tournament, which is the West Indies’ domestic List A competition.

“We have our premier 50-over competition going on now and it is going to be played at the same time as the league (PSL),” he said. “He is the captain of the Barbados team, which wants him to play. We need him in the region. It promotes cricket. It sends a sense of unity. It sends the right message.”