St John's (Antigua), July 23: West Indies greats Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding on Thursday blasted "greedy" players and the "incompetent" board for creating the mess that cricket in the Caribbeans finds itself in.

Lloyd was scathing in his criticism of the current crop of cricketers who boycotted national duty protesting a contract row with the West Indies Cricket Board. "When you say the West Indies team is going to withdraw from a series, it is not that they are short of money. We have players who are millionaires with an average of 15.00 and they are a first-team pick," a sarcastic Lloyd said. "We have players who are being paid $500,000 or more and they do not pay a cent in any tax. We are the only country where players don’t pay any tax," the former captain was quoted as saying by a website.

West Indies cricket plunged into deep crisis with the players, represented by WIPA, and the Board engaging in a tug-of-war. — PTI