The Board of Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board will hold its first meeting for 2015 tomorrow at the Tradewinds Hotel in Antigua and key governance issues will come up including the embarrassing scuttling of the India tour which has left the board facing a hefty damages bill.
A release from the WICB yesterday said that high on the agenda of the Board Meeting are matters relating to the governance of West Indies cricket.
The release said that at the previous meeting of the Board of Directors in December last, the meeting reviewed various governance reports and committed to further “discussing the various recommendations with a view to implementing best practice in corporate governance.”
The release said that the WICB has previously implemented over 80% of the recommendations of the Patterson Report and agreed to the majority of the Governance Committee report which was headed by Charles Wilkin QC. It said that at a specially convened meeting of the members of the WICB in 2012, 10 of the 17 recommendations were agreed to. Specifically, it noted, directors nominated by the Territorial Boards no longer represent the Territorial Boards at Annual General Meetings. Critics have said that key elements of both the Patterson and Wilkin reports remain untouched.
As generally recommended by the Patterson Report the release said that the WICB is about to conclude the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the six Professional Cricket League franchises. It said that this follows the implementation of the PCL and the six franchises which are being independently administered through the Territorial Boards.
The release said that the Board Meeting will also further discuss the Task Force report relating to the “premature end of the tour of India.” Analysts have said that the board has sent mixed signals over this fiasco without any clear indication of disciplinary action against the players who revolted over their contractual conditions.
The release said that Task Force Chairman Michael Gordon QC had presented the report and responded to questions and clarifications from members of the Board at its previous meeting in December. The release said that the Board studied the full report and will make a specific announcement relating to the way forward following the meeting tomorrow.
