Skerritt says no to one-year WICB job

BRIDGETOWN: More than three months after retaining his job as West Indies team manager, Ricky Skerritt is still without a contract after turning down a one-year deal offered by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in March this year.

On March 31, WICB chief executive Roger Brathwaite verbally offered a one-year contract to the 46-year-old Skerritt but, because there was no long-term job security, insiders say Skerritt turned it down and advised the board that he would work only through the two home series. One source said the board of directors, at a meeting in Barbados three months ago, decided it would only offer a one-year deal (at reduced financial terms). During his last two-year deal, Skerritt’s base salary was set at US$7,600 per month. He also received a meal allowance of US$50 per day in addition to an equal share of prize money won by team.

As senior team manager, Skerritt was also entitled to 1/20th of the incentive money from Cable & Wireless sponsorships plus a manager’s entertainment allowance. The WICB had a change of heart over the length of the deal, deciding at its Dominica meeting two weekends ago to offer a two-year contract. Skerritt and the board are in the process of negotiating the terms of a deal and a decision is expected within the next week. Meanwhile, well-placed sources say the board plans to advertise for the position of assistant coach to work under Gus Logie.

The decision to advertise the position was made to avoid a repeat of the problems associated with Jeff Dujon’s hiring in February 2000. At the time, the board had only advertised for a head coach (Roger Harper won that job) and the addition of Dujon to the senior team staff ran into problems because the job description and the chain of command was apparently not clear to all concerned. Dujon was later relieved of his duties with the senior team and put to work with the WICB’s cricket development arm. This time around, sources say the job description “will be clear to all concerned.” There have been rumblings that bowling coach Kenny Benjamin was a frontrunner for the assistant’s job but now that the board has decided to advertise the post, a decision could be delayed for some time.