SIR David Simmons and Sir Wes Hall asserted yesterday that they first learnt through the press of their appointment to a task force to “deal with” the US$47.2 million claims of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for the team’s premature withdrawal from last month’s tour of India.
The new task force is unconnected to that proposed at the WICB directors’ emergency meeting in Barbados October 21 that was to review the overall circumstances of debacle in India.
It is part of the so-called Hyatt Accord, an agreement forged at Friday’s meeting at the Hyatt Hotel in Port-of-Spain to end the three-way dispute between the WICB, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the players in India under ODI captain Dwayne Bravo.
The meeting was attended by prime ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Keith Mitchell of Grenada along with WICB president Dave Cameron, WIPA president Wavell Hinds, through Skype, Bravo and other representatives of the three feuding parties.
Sir David, a former Chief Justice and Attorney General of Barbados, said yesterday he had been called by Cameron on October 23 to ask whether he would chair the original task force; two days later, Cameron advised that it had been scrapped.
“I told the president then that I was willing to accept the position but advised that I would be unavailable between November 5 and December 13 as I had prior commitments in the Turks and Caicos and Jamaica,” Sir David explained. “I had heard nothing more since then so was surprised to read the reports in the Sunday Sun.”
Given such dates, it is highly unlikely that he would be able to serve on the task force.
Sir Wes, the fiery fast bowler of the 1960s who became selector, team manager and, ultimately president of the WICB, was equally taken aback.
“I have followed the developments in India and the subsequent repercussions with a deep sense of distress and embarrassment,” Hall said. “I have expressed my views on the issue but was completely surprised to have read my name as one of the three members of this task force.”
“If, through my experience as player and administrator and as minister in the Barbados government over a period of ten years would be helpful in this situation, of course I would be willing to help as West Indies cricket is close to my heart,” Hall added. “Still, there is always a proper protocol for conducting business and this is not one.”
The third member named to the task force is Kenneth Lalla, a prominent lawyer and former Trinidad and Tobago parliamentarian. He served with Simmons as a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice Legal Service Commission.
It could not be ascertained whether he had prior knowledge of his appointment.
BELEAGUERED West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron was in defiant mood after Friday’s high-powered meeting in Trinidad that forged an agreement to end the disputes that led to the contentious premature ending of the team’s tour of India last month.
“They’ve criticised you. They’ve doubted you. They’ve lied on you. They’ve done all they can do, but one thing they can’t do is stop you,” he wrote on his internet Twitter account.
His comment covered a wide field.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has served the WICB with a claim for US$47.2 million for a loss of revenue, effectively held him responsible for the withdrawal of the team after the fourth One-Day International on October 17. In an e-mail to Cameron, Dwayne Bravo, spokesman for the players in India, charged that WICB’s failure to heed their appeal and to find a resolution to the payment-structure dispute, was a “grave injustice.” T
There have also been calls in some sections of the media for his resignation.
Cameron often uses social media to air his views.
After calling off the tour of India when the players refused to carry on, he declared on his Facebook page: “This feels like an act of terrorism. You destroy a region’s heritage over an internal dispute. You don’t threaten the offender as yet. Unbelievable.” (TC).
