WICB to ‘follow up’ Digicel report

THE West Indies Cricket Board have committed the contentious VB Series report and recommendation to their “follow-up process.” According to a release following their special meeting in Barbados on Sunday, the board said they received and considered the reports of the manager Tony Howard, coach Bennett King and the Media Liaison Officer Imran Khan regarding the recent VB Series in Australia. And the Board noted that an internal Digicel memo criticising the attitude and behaviour of players on the West Indies team during that tour has been published in the media. But the WICB said they were satisfied that the source of the release of the Digicel internal document to the media has not emanated from within the Board.

As part of the follow-up process, the directors expressed an intention to seek a meeting with Digicel to have the substantive issues arising out of the publication of the document resolved. This process will be conducted in a manner that ensures fairness to the players, the sponsors and the Board. The WICB release also indicated their intention to resolve the several matters between them and the West Indies Players Association led by Dinanath Ramnarine. But Chief Executive Officer Roger Brathwaite indicated that priority was being given to concluding agreements on Clause 5 of the match/tour contract, which deals with sponsorships and endorsements, and on the level of sponsorship fees.

The CEO gave an update on negotiations between the Board and WIPA, which are aimed at securing retainer contracts, a collective labour agreement, a memorandum of understanding, a players’ code of conduct and a match/tour contract. According to the WICB release, after examination of the respective positions, they reiterated their desire that everything should be done to conclude the negotiations by Monday, well in advance of the beginning of the Digicel 2005 Home Series against Pakistan on March 29, 2005. At Sunday’s meeting too, the Board’s Finance and Audit Committee presented a preliminary report to the meeting in which some options to reduce the expected deficit for the current financial year of more than US$5 million were offered. The Board, after considering these options, agreed that the committee should complete its work before any final decisions are taken.