Dear Editor,
Darren Bravo has the highest Test average in foreign countries in his relatively short career among all West Indies cricketers. He was dismissed from the West Indies team by the WICB on the recent tri-partite tour to Zimbabwe because of his comment, in response to the contract offered him by the WCB, that the President of the board was not very smart. He is only one of a number of West Indian cricketers in recent times to be sacked for similar reasons. Chris Gayle was also sacked or threatened with sacking because he complained about cricketers being sent late on a tour. Sunil Narine was sacked for being one day late at training camp. Dwane Bravo and Kieran Pollard were sacked because they were held by the WICB to be responsible for the Indian tour fiasco, although a Commission of Inquiry established by the board allocated responsibility differently. The last series in Zimbabwe is one that was likely lost as a result of this approach, as was the last tour to the region by New Zealand (when Narine was excluded). The region’s cricket suffers because the WICB seems to have the authority to exclude players from the team simply on the basis that the player exhibits what, in the view of the board, is disrespect for the board or a director of the board. I certainly do not wish to encourage cricketers to be disrespectful of board members or even of their elders generally, but it does seem to me unwise and unnecessary to punish the whole region for the behaviour of players. In the first place expulsion seems to be almost a first resort, and what is more it often happens at the most inopportune time. Certainly, Caricom, together with the players and their representatives can devise a strategy that protects the interests of the region better when there are conflicts between the board and players.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
