‘Plenty to lose from cricket crisis’

KINGSTON: Grenada Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, has asserted that there is plenty to lose if the ongoing battle between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association escalates over players’ personal endorsements. Dr Mitchell, who is chairman of Caricom’s Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket, believes that West Indies Cricket Board President Teddy Griffith acted in haste with his “clear-the-air” address carried on radio and television across the Caribbean on Friday.

“I was surprised that Teddy chose to go public at this time because I do not think it will help the process of negotiation,” remarked Dr Mitchell in a lunchtime interview yesterday during coverage of the Carib Beer 2005 Series match between Jamaica and Barbados on Radio Jamaica. “There were some compromises being put forward and they were being seriously considered. We alerted him and everyone involved about what was taking place, and he assured me he would do nothing to interfere with the negotiating process. “I am not sure we achieved it with his announcement on Friday, but I am clear that all is not lost. We are bringing everyone to a meeting in Grenada on Monday to come to an amicable solution.”

In his statement, Griffith said that the WICB could not allow the whole structure of West Indies cricket to be put in peril as a result of individual endorsement contracts between seven players, including captain and batting star Brian Lara, and telecommunications giant, Cable and Wireless. Griffith added that Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Dwayne Smith would all be overlooked for selection for the upcoming home series against South Africa and Pakistan if they did not disclose the details of their personal deals with C&W, a rival of the WICB’s main sponsor, Digicel.

“There will have to be some compromises and the WICB will not be able to achieve everything that it wishes, and the other parties must also recognise this,” Dr Mitchell said. “It will take some deep introspection, but I am clear in my mind that it can happen. The parties have all committed personnel from the highest level and they would not be doing so if they did not think there was some chance of a resolution that would allow the West Indies to put forward its best players, and do no injury to us hosting a successful 2007 ICC World Cup.” Dr Mitchell stated that not only the WICB, players and sponsors stood to lose if the row continues, but many of the governments who had invested heavily in redevelopment of facilities in the Caribbean ahead of the 2007 ICC World Cup.

“If this thing is not solved, the WICB will not get what it wants —  proper funding for cricket in the region as a whole because I do not see any sponsor investing a lot of money in a weak West Indies team for any long period of time,” he said. “Secondly, I do not believe that Digicel itself can benefit from its sponsorship of a weak West Indies team, nor can C&W benefit from players that are not members of the West Indies team. “Thirdly, the individual countries would be hurt. Many of us have invested tremendous amounts of our limited and scarce resources, and with a cricket that seems to be in trouble, we will put ourselves in a difficult position economically and politically, so everyone has a lot to lose.”In his address, Griffith contended that the seven players have repeatedly refused to share with the WICB the non-financial provisions of their contract with the WICB, but Dr Mitchell revealed that his sub-committee had obtained copies of the contracts and were looking them over.

“A sample of the contracts was made available to us some time ago, and one of our legal advisors informed us that the contracts did nothing to go against the spirit of the agreement between the WICB and Digicel,” the Grenada PM said. “If the sub-committee is acting in the role of umpire, and we have told the WICB that we have copies of the contract, they should respect this and not say anything else. “The time for us to make a decision may be short, but I believe it is enough. Our legal advisors have dealt with more complicated matters, and we will do what we have to do to make sure that West Indies cricket will not be damaged.”