Rain, No Play

New WICB President, Julian Hunte.

After being elected as the new President of the WICB today, Julian Hunte demonstrated in his first day on the job the kind of wisdom that is giving this writer reason to hope for a better day in West Indies cricket. Today, for the first time, the WIPA president, Dinanath Ramnarine was made a (non-member) director of the WICB along with 3 other people: Professor Hillary Beckles, the principal of the Cave Hill campus of the UWI; Ken Hewitt, head of the finance committee of the recent World Cup and importantly former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.  read more »

Bruce Aanensen, CEO WICB

When one feels aggrieved by another person's comments or statements, that person certainly has a right to defend their self interests. On Thursday of this week, embattled WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen felt the need to defend his "good name and reputation", following WIPA President Dinanath Ramnarine's letter to outgoing WICB President Ken Gordon, requesting Aanensen's removal.

Aanensen opened his own letter by saying that he "had contemplated not responding to the accusations made by Mr. Ramnarine..." and he would have been well served to have followed his initial position. Instead of letting Gordon's reply suffice, Aanensen launched into his own laundry list of complaints against Ramnarine, stating that he had among other things, "deliberately not spoken the truth". At least Gordon's letter had a measure of decency to it, Aanensen didn't even bother with that. Aanensen also accused Ramnarine of "spreading misinformation to embarrass the WICB". It seems to us that Aanensen and his colleagues needed no help from Ramnarine to embarrass the WICB as evidenced by the England tour arbitration, including the apparent contradiction of Aanensen's statements by the Barbadian Chief Justice Sir David Simmons, the apparent contradiction of Aanensen by Eddie Green, CARICOM's assistant secretary general, as to whether CARICOM had given the go ahead for the canceled Zimbabwe A team tour, the Gayle-Ganga captaincy fiasco and the late arrival of ODI players in England among other things. All within three months of Aanensen being on the job.  read more »

West Indies cricket is proving to be a soap opera that doesn't seem to stop serving up juicy plot lines for all those who enjoy seeing the interactions of people who have nothing but disdain for each other. For those, like myself, who care about West Indies cricket, the whole episode is sickening.

Dinanath Ramnarine, President and CEO of WIPA wrote to Ken Gordon, WICB President calling for WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen's replacement. Ramnarine claimed that Aanensen's "negative" leadership style made it impossible to deal with him. Ramnarine pointed to Aanensen's publicly calling the players "incompetent" in the middle of a tour, the bungling of the arrival of the ODI players in England and the mishandling of the canceled A team tour to Zimbabwe, the tussle with the selectors about whether Gayle or Ganga would be captain of the ODI side in England among other "highlights" of Aanensen's 3 month stint as CEO. (Aside: going back over this list makes me really wonder how this man still has a job!)  read more »

WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen and Chris Gayle

On Sunday, Cricinfo executive editor Martin Williamson wondered about the West Indies Cricket Board, How Low Can They Go? With events that have unfolded since then it seems that the WICB is desperately trying to find the answer to that question as well.

Last week Chris Gayle spoke his mind in his Cricinfo blog, calling out the WICB for the mess it created by first rejecting Gayle and then appointing him as stand in ODI captain, and for not having flown in the replacement ODI players in time for a practice match leading the board to have to draft in replacement players from local English leagues. Wrote Gayle:

First and foremost I am very disappointed with the West Indian cricket board (WICB) for not having the guys here in England already and ready to play.

He also expressed his hurt in how his nomination for captain was initially treated by the WICB:

As the captain I have to say that this is disappointing and it is not at all a good start. I also have to mention that I was hurt and disappointed that after I was nominated as captain by the selectors, I did not initially get the support of the board.

He also went on to say that the players wanted "change" and "the best" from the WICB:

The board is always talking about players needing to change but we, the players, need changes from the board as well. We can't be out in the wilderness all the time because we are the ones who are getting all the blame.

These are some of the things that we as players have to go through. The WICB says they want the best out of players but we also need the best out of the board.

Every word that Gayle wrote is true. He has not misrepresented the WICB in any way. However, strictly speaking, Gayle should probably have made these points privately with the board, after all, which organization would want its employees publicly criticising it?  read more »

For years, the West Indies Cricket Board has pointed its finger of blame at its players for the continued decline of the team's fortunes. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Board's actions have been a farcical attempt to further its power and take advantage of its employees.

Today, the WICB had to recruit West Indian players from local leagues in England to fill in for the players called up for the One Day series in England due to mismanagement of travel arrangements. Injuries to members of the Test squad meant that there was a shortage of healthy players to cover for the late arriving players. Claims of indiscipled players have been rampant for the past few years, and many West Indians (myself included) have been all too willing to heed the WICB's accusations and lay blame at the feet of the players. Incidents such as this latest fiasco demonstrate that there is more going on in West Indies cricket than immediately meets the eye.  read more »

In an about face, the WICB, according to CaribbeanCricket.com, will offer the ODI and Twenty20 captaincy for the current England tour to Chris Gayle. Previously the WICB's executice committee had rejected the selectors' choice of Gayle for stand in captain for the ODI and Twenty20 matches.

Apparently the WICB's executive committee led by President Ken Gordon wanted to clean house with the supposed "indisciplined" players. However, the selectors made it known Gayle has never been charged with "indiscipline" and that they would resign en masse if the board interfered with their decision. Good for them. Their job is to select the team and if the WICB doesn't like their performance then they should replace them when their terms are up, but stay out of the selection process, Mr. Gordon!  read more »

Proving that it hasn't learned anything from the contract dispute that took place before this current English tour and before the World Cup and before the India tour in January and ...well you get the point, the WICB is making plans for the West Indies to play 20/20 matches in a Tournament in Toronto, Canada in August as well as for an A team tour to Zimbabwe in July. Problem is, neither of these tours is listed in the ICC Future Tours Programme, and unlike with this English tour, the issue is clear cut. In a situation like this the MoU signed by WIPA and the WICB just last September requires that both parties agree to these tours. So far, it seems that the WICB has not contacted WIPA about the tours. I guess one dispute at a time...

Caribbeancricket.com reported today that the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) will advise the players to sign the contracts to be offered by the WICB for the upcoming tour to England, "subject to the decision of the arbitration panel."

The dispute was sent to an arbitration panel chaired by Barbados Chief Justice David Simmons, after the WICB and WIPA differed over whether the upcoming tour was part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP). According to the MoU signed by WIPA and the WICB in September of last year, the players would be entitled to additional monies for tours outside of the FTP. WIPA believes that this tour is outside the FTP, while the WICB claims otherwise.

From emails released today by WICB Corporate Secretary, Tony Deyal, it appears that the WICB may have arguments in its favour. The original FTP devised in 2001 did not include this current tour to England. This tour was, however, agreed to by the WICB and England's ECB in early 2006 before the FTP was revised by the ICC later that year. Hence it was included in the FTP as an "additional" tour as England and the West Indies would have otherwise met their minimum requirements of matches for the FTP. According to Dave Richardson, GM of the ICC "It is quite clear therefore that the England Tour, although additional to the minimum requirements (and thus indicated as such), is part of the FTP."  read more »

WICB CEO, Bruce Aanensen

The current impasse between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players Association (WIPA) could potentially result in WIPA calling a strike and the tour to England being cancelled.

At issue is whether the upcoming tour, which starts in under 2 weeks, is part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP). Any tours outside of the FTP would require additional negotiations and more pay according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between WICB and WIPA. According to cricinfo.com, the WICB had previously agreed with WIPA that the tour was outside of the FTP, but had only recently arrived at its current position that the England tour was part of the FTP and hence the players should get no extra money.

The dispute has been put before an arbitrator in Barbados, whose ruling will be binding. However the arbitrator, Barbados Chief Justice David Simmons is not expected to rule before the departure date for the team on May 8th.

WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen (pictured above) is confident that the tour will go ahead however, with or without the regular players. He believes that the MoU precludes players who have retainer contracts from going on strike while a dispute has been referred to an arbitrator. He also states that in the event of a strike, the WICB will "move to the next set of players until we get a team of 15".  read more »

Fallout from the West Indies' continued string of failures began today when Windies coach Bennett King resigned from office. His resignation will take effect on May 31, 2007. Apparently he is staying on to facilitate the establishment of a regional cricket academy and so that the WICB can better "understand the challenges facing the Board as it implements the new structure". (King has been coach for the last three years, what more can he contribute in the next month that he hasn't been able to do for the last 3 years?). Meanwhile, the tour to England, should it go ahead (more on that later), begins in 3 weeks and the Windies don't have a coach. Apparently, King recommended his assistant David Moore, another former coach at the Australian cricket academy to take over for the English tour.  read more »