Dave Cameron’s free hits

Dave Cameron, president of the regional body, recently stressed that for persons holding executive positions within a company, being liked is secondary to being respected.

Cameron is 100 percent accurate in his assertion but respect should be reciprocated.

We have seen Sammy, Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo and Pollard rightly punished for speaking out against the WICB and making disparaging remarks to its officials. There must be consequences for these indiscretions.

However, we note incredulously that there seems to be zero repercussions for WICB officials who have disrespected our regional players.

Cameron, during the 2015 ICC World Cup, retweeted a fan’s criticism of former captain Chris Gayle, stating that the hard-hitting batsman should be given a “retirement package” as he “can’t buy a run” and is playing based on reputation.

The WICB boss was roundly criticised for his retweet which was described by Sir Wes Hall as “torrentially tasteless.” Apart from being made to apologise, Cameron got away with a “free hit”. On Thursday, Cameron was on Sportsmax TV discussing the shocking revelation that Darren Bravo was offered a ‘C’ retainer contract. He explained there was a formula used by the WICB to determine which tier contract a player has earned, adding that Darren was on an ‘A’ contract previously and not performing up to the ‘A’ standard.

He argued offering him a ‘C’ may act as motivation to return to top form.

Darren immediately retorted on social media, as has been customary of late for West Indians, calling the WICB president a “big idiot”, and contradicting the WICB chief, revealing he was never on an ‘A’ contract and saying that Cameron should resign.

We have no qualms that the reigning WICB Test Player of the Year should be disciplined for his remarks. But if his tweet is correct in its entirety, it means Cameron went live on air to the world and was less than truthful about Darren’s contract situation.

Given that the WICB had previously refused to publicly reveal the salary brackets players are in, we assume the WICB president would at least be privy to that information. If not, it would still be highly irresponsible for Cameron to expound on Darren’s contract situation without knowing its details.

Another free hit allowed by the WICB umpires? Is it that players alone are bowled out when they make mistakes? Had Cameron told the truth on air (if Darren Bravo is being honest) the batsman would still be in Zimbabwe right now preparing for the tri-nation series.

Instead, we are likely to be losing another talented young West Indian cricketer due to misinformation and a poor working relationship between the WICB and its employees. Wily Trinidadian off-spinner Sunil Narine on Friday also pulled out of the Zimbabwe tour due to “personal reasons”. We can only speculate what those reasons are. Until we address the real problems plaguing West Indies cricket we’ll continue to be turning the proverbial corner.