The perpetual state of discord that has taken over West Indies cricket and is aiding its continuing downfall has, at least, kept some of the region’s sharpest minds active long after they might have looked forward to a relaxed retirement.
A retired Barbados Chief Justice, a past Commonwealth Secretary-General, ex-Caricom prime ministers and former High Court judges are all on the extensive list of those summoned over the last 30 years or so to settle the several quarrels between organisations specifically charged with promoting West Indies cricket at various levels.
Even the Court of International Arbitration in London has found itself having to sort out a disagreement over sponsorship.
The disputes have involved the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), individual players and, most alarmingly, a couple of the WICB’s own affiliates.
Court injunctions have been sought, not to ensure that the game is played but that it is stopped.
They are distractions that so undermine an entity once the most powerful and envied in world cricket that fears for its future are not misplaced.
None has achieved the goal of creating harmony. Quite the opposite. The only beneficiaries are the highly-paid lawyers employed to argue the cases for their opposing clients.
The latest instance concerned whether Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago qualified from the semi-final of the WICB’s still unsponsored four-day tournament to play Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) in the final.
After its side held out for a no-decision, with nine wickets down, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) protested against the WICB ruling that placed Jamaica in the final on the basis of its first innings lead in their corresponding match in the qualifying round.
The TTCB argued that the WICB’s rule was “ambiguous” and against the laws of “natural justice” since Trinidad and Tobago had finished above Jamaica in the qualifying points table from which the top four teams advanced to the semis.
It is instructive that it did not question the rule when it was circulated prior to the tournament but only when it seemed its team was likely to be affected.
The relevant rule might have been convoluted, as so much from the WICB tends to be, but its intention was obvious.
It stated: “In the event of the teams in either semi-final finishing on an equal number of points, the right to advance to the final will be the team which gained the greater number of points when the two teams (of the teams which competed in the semi-final) competed against each other in the group stage of the tournament.”
In other words, the determining factor would be the outcome of the qualifying round match, from which Jamaica gained first innings lead, and not the final points table.
As it was, Trinidad and Tobago had already gained home advantage, based on its second place in the round-robin group stage. They further boosted it by choosing the favoured University of the West Indies ground as the venue, rather than the Queen’s Park Oval.
They also decided to bowl first on winning the toss to which Jamaica, well aware of the situation regarding qualification for the final, responded by amassing 664 over two and a half days.
Yet the TTCB felt so confident of its case that it filed an injunction in the Port-of-Spin High Court to prevent the final going ahead until issue was settled.
As it was, Justice Vasheist Kokaram denied the order with a common sense approach that should be a template for all those engaged in such future standoffs.
“Battles with cricket are usually on the field,” he said in his ruling. The courts are to be used only as a last resort, he added, advising that the WICB itself establish a committee to undertake dispute resolution.
It won’t happen, of course. What would all those lawyers and retired justices and politicians do to pass their time in future?
Given a similar situation in the past, the current president of the WICB, Dr. Julian R. Hunte, might feel constrained against offering any advice on the present matter.
When, back in 1975, he was on the then West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) as president of the Windward Islands Cricket Association and just plain Mr. Julian Hunte, he was at the centre of an even more acrimonious controversy over the regulation for the first-class tournament, then the Shell Shield. It was the famous match between Trinidad and Tobago and the Combined (Windward and Leeward) Islands at the Queen’s Park Oval. It ended, as everyone knows who has heard Paul Keens-Douglas’ unforgettable “Tantie Merle” skit, with scores tied and the Islands nine wickets down.
Had it been all 10 wickets it would have been a tie and the Islands would have won the Shield for the first time. Under the rule at the time (since changed) it was classified as a draw with scores equal – so that the Islands finished the season with 24 points and Guyana were declared champions on 28.
All hell broke loose. In my experience, there has been nothing since to match the emotionally charged outpourings from the Windwards and Leewards that followed. Hunte was to the fore in proclaiming them.
When the WICBC’s annual general meeting in Port-of-Spain a month later upheld Guyana as champions, based on the points system at the time, he walked out in protest (as he had done two years earlier when his proposal to have the Combined Islands split into Windwards and Leewards in the Shield was turned down).
“As the Combined Islands, we find ourselves in a position of lesser mortals and have been the victims of discrimination,” Hunte charged. “I have been given a mandate by 500,000 people and I am going to pursue it to the ultimate.”
That, he noted, included carrying the case to the International Cricket Conference (as it then was) or the High Court if necessary.
It never came to that and, six years later, the Combined Islands celebrated their first Shield Shield title before the Windwards and Leewards were divided into separate teams.
As we all do with age, Hunte would have mellowed since those tumultuous days but such skeletons have a habit of leaping out of cupboards when least expected.
The Windward Islands president is the West Indies president now, the leader of the organisation responsible for the administration of all cricket in the region.
If there is any counsel he feels he should give to his directors at the WICB’s next board meeting it is to repeat Justice Kokaram’s in the Port-of-Spain High Court last Wednesday night.
