Cable and Wireless offered same US$20M

CABLE and WIRELESS have denied a Digicel statement that they refused to match the US$20 million five-year sponsorship to the West Indies Cricket Board. In a statement issued last night  from Cable and Wireless’ Pat Bynoe-Clarke, she said her company did turn down a US$30 million five-year proposal put forward to them.

She said the last offer left on the table with the WICB on March 31, 2004 was for a US$20 million five-year proposal for the Home Series only, allowing the WICB to broaden their sponsorship base and seek additional sponsorship dollars for the away matches and youth development programmes. Bynoe-Clarke in her letter stated Cable and Wireless were proud sponsors of West Indies cricket, but their integrity had been attacked.

She said Digicel “cannot claim to be proud sponsors of West Indies cricket now that they have thrown it into crisis by publicly humiliating the players, pressuring the board to abandon their obligation to field the best players for the West Indies team, and calling our 20-year commitment to the game in question.” The statement pointed out that three weeks ago, a “leaked” memo to the press written by a Digicel executive, maliciously attacked the intergrity of some of the game’s best players, “who just happen to have personal endorsement contracts with Cable and Wireless.”