`The current situation, if not resolved immediately, will no doubt destroy the fabric on which to base any hope of reviving the region’s standing in international cricket, or building a solid future for West Indies cricket’
CARICOM has laid out a plan to heal the rift between the West Indies players association and the board and it is to convene a stakeholders meeting at the earliest date to discuss the future of the region’s cricket.
The organization will also be taking into account the West Indies Cricket Board’s Development Plan as well as the Report of the Patterson Committee established by the WICB.
This is one of a raft of recommendations coming out of the Sixteenth Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee (PMSC) on cricket, according to a communique yesterday from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen.
The two sides have been at loggerheads in recent weeks and this necessitated the picking of a second-string team for a series against Bangladesh where the Windies were trounced.
Meanwhile, the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), with assistance from the CARICOM Secretariat, are to agree on a formula and minimum criteria that will allow the WICB to select the best West Indies team.
The PMSC has recommended further that under those terms,
the players must make themselves available for selection in accordance with normal WICB requirements, in particular, participation in the regional tournaments.
Moreover, the WICB is to agree to the television/image rights fees (sponsor’s fees) traditionally paid to players, pending the special arbitration on this issue to facilitate the signing of retainer contracts by October 1 this year.
And the WICB and WIPA are also to agree on the implementation of the special arbitration process provided for in the Mediator’s draft agreement, i.e. on ‘Team rights’ and ‘the India tour’; and the best efforts by the CARICOM Secretariat in the first instance to facilitate the resolution of the other outstanding issues proposed by WICB and WIPA, or the pursuit of arbitration if necessary. Such arbitration, however, must not delay the return of West Indies cricket to normalcy, the communiqué added.
It stated too that the WICB is to inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) of the action taken by Caribbean governments with the aim of “returning West Indies cricket to its accustomed place in world cricket, in consonance with the highest traditions of the sport as upheld by the ICC.”
In the meantime, the communiqué noted, the PMSC will monitor compliance with the agreed measures based on periodic reports from the CARICOM Secretariat.
Over the past 10 years in particular, the Heads of Government as well as all stakeholders in West Indies, have endured the fracturing of relations and distrust between the WICB and the WIPA, the communique noted.
It also warned that “the current situation, if not resolved immediately, will no doubt destroy the fabric on which to base any hope of reviving the region’s standing in international cricket, or building a solid future for West Indies cricket.”
It is under these circumstances that the PMSC has decided to intervene in the process at this time and make recommendations on a feasible way forward, following the aborted mediation exercise chaired by Sir Shridath Ramphal and initiated by the Chairman of the Community, President Bharrat Jagdeo, with the agreement of the WICB and WIPA.
CARICOM Heads of Government have always taken the position that management of West Indies cricket is the province of the WICB and its affiliate organizations and the main concern is restoring the image and status of West Indies cricket regionally and internationally, the communiqué concluded.
