The West Indies Cricket Board today announced that it had given the Guyana Cricket Board a deadline of March 7th 2013 (Thursday) to advise on its ability to host the West Indies v Pakistan First Test slated for July, 2013.
In a statement today, the WICB said that the GCB had been advised of the deadline on February 16th last.
The WICB has further advised that Jamaica’s Sabina Park has been identified as an alternate venue should the GCB not be in a position to host the Test.
The WICB deadline will force the Guyana Government and the GCB to once again confront the feud between the two. The GCB will only be in a position to host the Test match if the government gives it permission for the use of the Providence Stadium which is now the country’s Test venue. However, over the last 16 months, the government has been engaged in a bitter battle with the GCB over management of cricket in Guyana and had derecognized it. It had also taken legal action against the persons who hold themselves out as representing the GCB. Agreement by the government for the GCB to use the stadium will erode the position it has taken over the last 16 months.
During that period, it had enlisted former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd to head an interim committee to oversee cricket here but this committee was ignored by the WICB which maintained that the GCB was its legitimate correspondent here. The WICB then withdrew international cricket from Guyana. Its recent offer of the hosting a Test match here seemed to have been predicated on the government ending its campaign against the GCB.
The government currently has a bill in Parliament pertaining to a new constitution for the GCB and elections to install a new body.
And in a surprise twist, Lloyd had recently approached the GCB and won its support to be nominated for the Presidency of the WICB. Critics had argued that this was most hypocritical as Lloyd’s committee had worked over the last 16 months against the GCB. Nevertheless, the GCB supported Lloyd’s nomination but he failed to gain a seconder.
The WICB statement said that the Board of Directors, at its last meeting also instructed the International Fixtures Committee to prepare a draft schedule for all international cricket to be hosted by the WICB for the next three years (2014-2016 inclusive). The IFC, the statement said, is to present the draft schedule at the next meeting of the Board of Directors which is slated for later this month.
