Cricket comes first

THE LOCAL business community yesterday called on the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to put cricket ahead of commercial considerations, and include Brian Lara in the West Indies cricket team to face South Africa in the First Test in Guyana in nine days. Speaking with reporters at the Hilton Trinidad, Christian Mouttet, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said he did not believe that the WICB had done all in its power to resolve the current impasse.

“All those considerations like contracts, players contracts and $20 million contracts seem to take precedence over what is most important for the sport which is that the West Indies field the best team that it can to have the best chance that it has against South Africa. “To date, we haven’t done that. Cricket comes first and not commercial contracts. The cricket must come first,” he declared. Mouttet said although the First Test begins at Bourda at the end of the month, and the WICB has already named the West Indies squad for that Test, “we should not assume that all is not lost.”

While he remained optimistic that Lara and the six other players could be considered for selection for the Guyana Test, Mouttet stressed that beyond that game it was incumbent on the WICB to “bring some kind of sensibility to this situation.” He suggested that the WICB heed Lara’s advice to bring all the parties together and work out some kind of compromise in order to field the best West Indies team for the upcoming Test and One-Day International series. The regional game was plunged into its latest crisis when Lara and six others — Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith, and Ravi Rampaul — were deemed ineligible for selecion because they have personal endorsement contracts with Cable and Wireless.

The WICB, on advice from their attorneys on Friday, decided that the contracts did not allow them to fulfil their obligation to new team sponsors Digicel, which has a US $20 million, five-year sponsorship deal with the West Indies team. However, only Lara was cleared to play, but the master batsman declined an invitation to join the squad preparing for the upcoming series and the WICB went ahead and named the team for the First Test minus the world double record holder. Lara was replaced as captain by Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Mouttet is the chairman of TSTT, the sole provider of telecommunications services in Trinidad and Tobago in which Cable and Wireless has a 49 percent interest, with the Trinidad and Tobago Government having the controlling 51 percent.

Lara also has a reported multi-year endorsement contract with TSTT reportedly worth several million dollars. The Chamber president said yesterday all business people know the value of compromise and negotiation in times of crisis, but he does not believe that the WICB has been as flexible as it could be in this situation in order to find a resolution that would satisfy all parties concerned, especially West Indies cricket fans. Mouttet said the Chamber would not lobby for a boycott of matches in TT if the omitted players  are not included in the West Indies team, but it has always maintained that cricket is greater than any player or sponsor. “We have a responsibility to West Indies cricket fans to field the best team that we have. That decision has not been made. We are not fielding the best team that we have,” he added.

Mouttet was uncertain if the presence of a Caricom government representative on the WICB would help this situation, or others like it in the future, but he suggested that a possible solution could lie in an examination of the criteria through which members of the WICB are selected. Mouttet declined to comment on offers by CL Financial Ltd to buy out the Cable and Wireless contracts of the omitted West Indies players, saying the Chamber was not privy to all the facts regarding their contracts. Mouttet said the Chamber as a business organisation had an important message to deliver regarding the future of West Indies cricket and would continue to make its voice heard, despite the seeming intransigence of the WICB.