West Indies opener Evin Lewis declines central contract

Ever after making his international debut for the Caribbean, Lewis has become a favourite cricketer in the T20 leagues across the world

Ahead of the bilateral series against India, star West Indies opener Evin Lewis has declined a central white-ball contract on Monday. The Cricket West Indies confirmed the development while announcing the list of central contract-awardees for the men's and the women's teams.

Ever after making his international debut for the Caribbean, Lewis has become a favourite cricketer in the T20 leagues across the world.

After declining the contract, the dynamic left-hand batsman has now joined a pool of cricketers including Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine, who have all done the same in the past and have skipped national duty in order to take part in the T20 leagues around the globe.

While the previous contracts have ended on September 30, the new ones are backdated to July 1, 2018, and are valid till June 30, 2019.

“All Windies and Franchise players are now contracted from the 1st of July to the 30th of June, with their performances assessed from the 1st of April to the 31st of March,” Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave said.

As per the reports, 8 players have been handed over the red-ball contract while only 3 players have been given white-ball contracts.

Here’s the full list:

All-format retainers: Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Shai Hope and Kemar Roach

Red-ball retainers: Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer and Kieron Powell

White-ball retainers: Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse and Rovman Powell

Development retainers: Sunil Ambris, Keemo Paul and Raymon Reifer