Director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chetram Singh said that his board had backed the decision by the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) not to send a squad to the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan owing to fear for their safety.
The letter from the WIPA, according to Singh, clearly stated that the players were not keen to travel to Pakistan. But while the WIPA has not singled out any player/s the letter clearly stated that the players were unwilling to go and this letter was received from WIPA representative Dinanath Ramnarine.
The WICB backed the position taken by Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand not to send teams to the Asian country for security concerns.
Singh speaking exclusively to Stabroek Sport said that “he is disappointed that the tournament has been pushed back by a year but the safety of the players is priority.”
He added that if a team was uncomfortable in their immediate surroundings (Pakistan) the team would not perform to the best of its ability and some of the players would not even want to go.
Singh added that with four of the teams pulling out of the tournament it was no longer a tournament of repute as only four teams would have remained but he declared that the total collapse of the tournament came with the West Indies’ withdrawal.
The teams that remained in the competition were hosts Pakistan, neighbour India and Sri Lanka.
Cricket fans can recall the 1996 ICC World Cup when the West Indies joined Australia to boycott Sri Lanka’s staging of the preliminary round on the basis of security concerns following the bombing of the Central Bank by the Tamil Tigers.
Meanwhile the postponing of the tournament to 2009 might have a domino effect as the West Indies is scheduled to host the following one in 2010, and Singh said he was unsure what will happen now.
West Indies
debutants
Speaking about the fate of debutants like Leon Johnson, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach and Brendon Nash, Singh said that they have now been given additional time to prove their mettle and also to show that their selections were not flukes.
“The onus is on them as they are in the sights of the West Indies selectors and they will have additional local games to convince the selectors about their abilities.
“They have been identified as players for the WI future and it is their responsibility to continue their good showing,” he added.
Meanwhile, the KFC Cup 2008 set for Florida in the United States has been postponed to a date to be announced and according to Singh this is due to the present hurricane season.
He added that at present he is unable to give a start date for the tournament which was expected to begin some time in September with October 16 being identified as the date for the final.
Looking at the likelihood of cricket being featured at the Olympics, Singh declared: “I think the advent of Twenty20 cricket makes it a possibility as a match takes only about three hours to complete.”
He added that not every nation has to send a team to the Olympics as they should do like the International Federation of Association Football or FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) which uses a seeding process to select the top teams that participate in the Olympics.
And, he added, at least eight to twelve teams should make it to the Olympics finals.
By the year 2020, according to Singh, he would be one of those persons who would be glad to see cricket being featured at the premier sporting event in the world.
Singh also contended that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should force itself onto the International Olympic Committee to make sure that cricket gets a voice soon.
