THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and CARICOM have announced separate initiatives in an effort to resolve claims from the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) against the WICB for US$41.97 million over the West Indies team’s sudden exit from its tour of India last October.
The two are taking different courses in proposed meetings with the BCCI.
In an e-mailed letter last Friday on behalf of chairman of CARICOM’s cricket governance committee, Grenada prime minister Keith Mitchell, CARICOM secretary-general Irwin Laroque invited BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel to an “early meeting” in Grenada on “a mutually convenient date” aimed at reaching an agreeable solution. A reply is awaited.
On the other hand, a statement from the WICB revealed that it had “communicated its intent” to the BCCI “to find a workable solution”, adding its intention to send a delegation to meet with the BCCI, “in the coming weeks”.
It said that president Dave Cameron had met with some of the directors of International Cricket Council (ICC) and “sought their assistance”.
“Their support is much appreciated and welcomed by the WICB,” it stated.
Laroque’s letter to Patel stated that the cricket governance committee, comprising Mitchell and prime ministers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, and of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, had been “pursuing a resolution of the matter” in consultation with Cameron.
“In so doing, it has been acutely aware of the essential role that dialogue, creativity and pragmatic exploration of options and alternatives could all positively contribute to such a resolution,” he added.
Dialogue between the committee and Cameron would have necessarily been tense following Gonsalves’ strident calls for Cameron’s resignation, the latest as recently as last Thursday.
The invitation to a meeting in Grenada was influenced by Patel’s most recent correspondence to Laroque and Cameron, dated January 20, giving a cut-off date of seven days for the WICB to comply to the BCCI’s claims, first set out on October 31 last.
The original time limit was 15 days for the WICB to provide a response; the BCCI subsequently agreed to CARICOM’s request for a further 40-day grace period.
Stating that the BCCI could not hold off any longer, Patel issued last week’s ultimatum.
“If the WICB fails to comply with the requisition contained in our letter dated October 31 2014 within a period of seven days from receipt of this letter, the BCCI shall initiate legal proceedings in the appropriate
forum against WICB without further intimation,” he wrote in a joint letter to Laroque and Cameron, dated January 20.
That deadline expired yesterday.
After the team’s departure from India, leaving one ODI, two Twenty20 Internationals and three Tests unplayed, the BCCI stated it was “shocked and extremely disappointed at the decision taken by the WICB”.
“The WICB’s inability to resolve internal issues with its players and allowing the same to affect an ongoing bilateral series does not reflect on any of those involved,” it added.
A task force, set up by the WICB to review all expects of the matter, apportioned blame equally to the WICB, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the players who quit India.
The BCCI’s US$41.97 claim as compensation for losses, mainly in media rights, title and team sponsorship, ground advertising and ticket sales, followed.
