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Jackie Hendriks

Former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) director Jackie Hendriks believes the organisation should come down hard on the players who recently pulled out of their tour of India.

Describing the move as "embarrassing" and "reprehensible", Hendriks said the players, headed by one-day captain Dwayne Bravo, should face suspensions or fines, or a combination of both.

"I think the players withdrawal of services is something that the disciplinary committee of the West Indies Cricket Board should meet and decide on," said Hendriks.

"I don't the think the players' who embarrassed West Indies cricket should just go scot-free and don't suffer some serious penalty.

"To do a thing like this is reprehensible, and is a very serious act, one which, as we speak, threatens the very existence of West Indies cricket."

Hendriks, a former president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, also pointed out that the players'complaints "could have been worked out in a more professional and gentlemanly fashion", which would have resulted in them finishing the tour.

Bravo, who was appointed West Indies one-day captain last May, led the withdrawal from the tour with Test captain Denesh Ramdim and Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy in support.

It was also communicated by Bravo via a series of leaked emails that he had the support of the team as it relates to their actions.

Interestingly, however, one player, Marlon Samuels, has since broken his silence, saying that he did not agree with pulling out of the tour.

"(For) most of those meetings I was in my room ordering room services or on Skype talking with my kids as I had no time for those meetings and talking," Samuels was quoted as saying.

"I decided to do the talking with my cricket bat on the field as I went to India on a mission. It was all about cricket for me."

Other members of the West Indies one-day tour squad included experienced players Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Sulieman Benn, Kieron Pollard, Jerome Taylor, Darren Bravo and Dwayne Smith, as well as upcoming players André Russell, Jason Holder and Leon Johnson.

Nikita Miller, who arrived from the West Indies 'A' team's ongoing tour in Sri Lanka in the middle of the impasse, also re-turned home.

The players withdrew their services after failing to get what they termed adequate responses from either the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) or the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), in response a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the latter two bodies recently.

The new CBA/MOU, according to the players, signed off on without their consent, and represented a significant loss in earnings. WIPA, headed by Wavell Hinds, has subsequently denied the claims.