Dear Editor,
Cricketing nations the world over as well as the diehard fans in the Caribbean and the wider world are at a loss at the silly action by the West Indian cricketers to return home in the midst of a tour because of a financial dispute with the WICB and are now wondering what will be future of the game as far as the West Indies is concerned.
At the moment it seems to be grim. As I have said before blame must be attributed not only to the players, and the WIPA, but should also be placed on the WICB for not intervening and preventing the standoff between the cricketers and their bargaining agent. I also wish to cast blame on Clive Lloyd, former captain, who was and might have still have been in India at the time of the walk off.
Clive, although merely Chairman of the Selection Committee, and not President of the WICB, is well respected by the players since he was the most successful captain who led the West Indies. I am certain if he had strong words with Bravo and his team mates they would have backed down from their plan. Another captain Richie Richardson, another official was there also and one wonders if he did not try to dissuade the cricketers from their foolish action.
Clive apologized and in a report from New Delhi apologized for the walkout and said that the players had made a mistake and went further to express the hope that the players’ action would not damage the outstanding great relationship between the two cricketing nations. I am not certain about this since the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) is hopping mad since they have lost tens of millions of dollars and their fans were deprived of seeing the Windies in action. As a result, they have threatened legal action and are seeking intervention by the International Cricket Council (ICC) the World’s governing body. They may also scrap India’s tour to the West Indies in 2016. Of course it will interfere with the Windies’ participation in the upcoming World Cup.
What would be detrimental to most of the players is to ban them from playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League. Former captain Courtney Walsh criticized the players and said that they should have never walked out in the midst of a tour while world renowned commentator, Barbadian-born Tony Cozier like me blames the WIPA, WICB and the players.
He said all three clearly failed to appreciate the damaging consequences such a drastic decision was bound to have on them all. It seems to me that the players had planned their embarrassing action. Why didn’t they inform the Board that they would not play unless their demands were met before they departed for India? Maybe the WICB would have selected a second string squad as they did during the Kerry Packer debacle when Alvin Kallicharran replaced Lloyd as captain and several “A” team players would have been drafted into the team. Well there is now a dilemma and every effort should be made to resolve the matter in order to bring cricket back to where it was. We must always remember that cricket is our culture, and the best medium for Caribbean integration followed by the University of the West Indies. Therefore the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should be involved and that regional body should move as speedily as possible to salvage the desperate situation.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
