SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – John Dyson has charged that he failed to sign his contract with the West Indies Cricket Board because of the ruling body’s inefficiency.
Dyson has indicated that he did not sign his contract because it was not suitable, and the WICB failed to respond in a timely manner to a few points he raised.
“It is correct that I didn’t sign a contract, but the question is why,” Dyson told the Cricinfo website.
“The first contract I was presented with had written on it [previous coach] Bennett King’s name and address.”
“Obviously, I couldn’t sign that. Then there were three points I felt needed clarification. It took more than two months for them to clarify the first point, and they never got back to me on points two and three.
“I was never offered a contract I felt reflected what we had discussed previously. But it would seem the WICB have problems with contracts with quite a few people, and not just me.”
Dyson added: “The only discussion I have had thus far was a phone call from [acting WICB chief executive officer] Steve Camacho.
“He told me the executive of the board had decided to terminate my employment with immediate effect. When I told him that I was a bit shocked and asked him why, he said that he was just the messenger and that he had fulfilled his duty as messenger. I haven’t heard any more since then.
“If I had been in some drunken fight then and brought disgrace upon myself and the board then perhaps I could understand. When I was working for the [New South Wales] department of education [in Australia], there was a process to follow in these sorts of matters. It has been disappointing.”
Dyson was sacked from his position last month, following the home series defeat to Bangladesh, when West Indies fielded a depleted squad because of a protracted industrial dispute between the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association.
“It’s a tragedy that West Indies is playing international cricket without its strongest team on the park,” he said.
“To me, Test cricket is about the best players from your part of the World playing against the best players from another part of the World and that did not happen against Bangladesh.
“That is not to talk down the new team – there are players there who I think have now overtaken one or two of the older team – but the fact is that the best team hasn’t been playing.”
He continued: “I made my Test debut playing for Australia during the World Series Cricket split, but I didn’t really feel like I made my debut until after I was being picked with all the players back. I still feel like that to this day.
“What happened in the series against Bangladesh was extremely sad. Some of the blokes in that series showed that they were ready for the step up – guys like Kemar Roach, Travis Dowlin and Darren Sammy – but any team is going to miss the likes of Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Ramdin, Bravo, Taylor, Edwards when fit, and Benn when in form.
“If they could get their best side on the park I think they could give a tournament like the Champions Trophy a real shake. But to survive, West Indies cricket needs its best team on the park.”
