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WICB
Should the Sir Viv Richards Stadium be banned?
By Will last year, mid-February, 4 Comments »
The new poll is up at the site. Go and vote (it’s on the right-hand-side).
There was a brief but startling line from Donald Peters, the CEO of the West Indies board, which appeared on a TMS blog earlier today. I was amazed no other news outlet bothered with it, because it seemed rather important, so I ran with it.
Donald Peters, the chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), has said that his board are not prepared to “take the risk” of ever playing at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium again, 24 hours after the second Test between West Indies and England was abandoned due to a sandy outfield.
The match only lasted 10 balls, as both Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards struggled to gain traction on a bedding made largely of soft sand, and it was soon consigned to history after the match referee, Alan Hurst, deemed it too dangerous for play.
“I would recommend they play soccer there from now on,” Peters told BBC’s Test Match Special. “The amount of funding it would take to make that into a Test venue again will be significant. I would advise the government and local cricket association to put their resources into restoring the Recreation Ground. The West Indies Cricket Board will not go back to the Viv Richards Stadium. We are not prepared to take the risk.”
The decision hasn’t yet been made whether or not the ICC will ban the ground. It will cost oodles of dosh to re-invent the old Rec, too – but that, surely, is the more sensible option. I am so geared up for this third Test now it’s being staged at the famous old ground, and we hear a good local crowd will be there too. Hopefully. Which makes a change from the disgrace of North Sound.
4 Comments »The flimsiest of foundations
By Will last year, mid-February, 5 Comments »
I’m still feeling slightly euphoric and exhilarated, which are two adjectives no cricket fan could describe themselves after a day of unprecedented farce. As I’m in the fortunate position of being able to cover such chaos, today has been hugely fun: exciting, depressing in parts, even quite funny and a joy to report on. But it’s a feeling of detached delirium – how in the name of the three Ws, and Sir Viv, could this possibly have happened?
Sand stops play. It’s such a feeble, flimsy excuse on the surface (or, rather, just beneath the surface), yet we all take for granted that the green grass will be sufficiently thick to allow size sixteen boots, attached to sixteen-stone athletes, the cushioning and traction required for bowling. Without that, the game can’t happen. It’s like asking a pole-vaulter to do his stuff with a stick made from paper mache.
Just when we thought West Indies cricket was on the up after that sensational fourth day in Kingston, it regresses back to the laughing stock on which much of its administration is based. North Sound – the ground named in honour of Sir Viv – isn’t fit to host an execution let alone a Test match lasting five days. You could count the number of locals at the ground on two hands. They hate it. It’s a disgrace to the country, an embarrassment to the passion and soul of the West Indies’ supporters and a reprehensible waste of money.
Sir Viv later said: “This is not shooting me in the foot. This is shooting me straight through the heart.” That his name should be associated with such a contemptible construction does everyone in the region a huge, horrible, crying disservice. The ground is everything he is not: crass, ugly, broken, embarrassing and dishonourable.
Vaneisa Baksh, a fine Caribbean-based cricket writer and historian, popped up on messenger during the chaos and sounded almost in tears. Likewise, a friend in Jamaica asked simply: “Why now?” That the Test was ever allowed to take place is just one awful blot on the WICB’s ink-sodden copybook. But that it should happen days after the Caribbean’s brightest moment for a decade is a wound which will take a long time to heal.
Organisations and cricket administrations, like the grounds at which their product should be on glorious display, need sturdier foundations than sand.
Oh – and read this. We found an insider (or rather, Caribbeancricket did. But we’re all friends in cricket land).
5 Comments »Visa? What visa?
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of November, No Comments; be the first!
You have to feel sorry for West Indies’ players. Granted, at some level they can be accused of complacency over the past 10 or 12 years which has led to some insipid performances. But it’s the performance of their board, and the politics raging within, which has mucked things up for them.
They’re off to New Zealand for a tour, so you’d think they’d at least manage to sort the visas in time, wouldn’t you? Not on your bloody nelly.
No Comments »Stanford unveils US$100m deal with England and West Indies
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 11 Comments »
Good god. Did we ever expect this sort of money to be part of cricket? After much debate, Stanford’s expansion from the Caribbean has been confirmed, and England will face an All Stars XI from the West Indies on November 1. The winner will take home $20m:
There were concerns with the winner-takes-all format proposed by Stanford but those seem to have been resolved. A deal will mean that if England win, each of the XI will receive US$1 million, the rest of the squad share US$1 million, and the management team splits another US$1 million. The remaining US$7 million will be shared between the ECB and the West Indies Cricket Board, regardless of the outcome of the match itself.
All of which puts yet more emphasis on this year’s domestic Twenty20 Cup; not only could a good performance loft a player to India for the Champions League, but a life-changing sum of money in the Caribbean a few weeks later. This is monstrous. Bonkers, but monstrous.
11 Comments »One man fighting the box of frogs
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of July, 2 Comments »
What’s the difference between the West Indies Cricket Board and a box of frogs? The box of frogs make more sense.
Ho ho ho. But on a serious note, for this is a seriously crazy cricket board, there is one man desperately fighting WICB’s inadequacies on behalf of the players: Dinanath Ramnarine, president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). And it is a fierce, ugly battle indeed.
Making sense of all this is somewhat of a challenge – I’ve been trying for about a year, and am only halfway there – but fortunately Vaneisa Baksh has done her best in an excellent piece Cricinfo commissioned. Do give it a read.
Ramnarine does not trust the WICB, and if one were to check the record of their dealings for the past five years or so of his tenure, it is clear why. He has had little reason to, and given his prior relationship with the board and its functionaries (remember, he retired at 28, having played in 12 Tests and taken 45 wickets with some pretty good legspin) there is nothing really to suggest there will be any improvement without fundamental changes.
But despite talk by the WICB’s outgoing president, Ken Gordon, that the recently appointed Governance Committee was the most important ever established, the board is not in a hurry to institute the changes the committee has recommended – not when one of those was that the board should give way to a more representative body.
The latest slew of exchanges between the board and WIPA revealed the nature of the tension between them. Ramnarine has charged the board with reneging on terms of their MOU, particularly with regard to including WIPA in negotiations affecting players. Gordon has accused Ramnarine of basically cussing off everyone and calling them liars.
Interesting, fragile times.
2 Comments »Caribbean ‘near breaking point’
By Will 3 years ago, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
For all his lording of the crease and general God-like status, Sir Viv Richards is a king of the sound-bite. But get him onto a subject he really knows and cares about and you listen.
Sadly, such is West Indies’ plight these days, only the media listen to him when really it should be the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) who ought to take notice of what he says.
“I learned a lot [from Close] and there are things the boss or individual in charge has to say. If guys in the workplace are not up to scratch, it is your job to say they are not up to scratch and suggest things they can do to improve.
“But it is coming near breaking point. The West Indies must think seriously – what is most important? Is it the people with their personal political agendas or the majority of the people who are the supporters of West Indies cricket?”
West Indies’ woes during this tour haven’t courted as much criticism as in previous years, perhaps further emphasising their struggle. Such is their plight, commentators are more concerned than they are angry; concerned that this side, one of the weakest West Indian touring parties, is beneath the required standard to compete at Test level.
There is one man who, Richards believes, shows the courage and passion – not to mention skill – required to compete: Dwayne Bravo.
“When you look and see the way Bravo enjoys his cricket, he could have been part of the 1970s and 1980s,” Richards said. “I hope he realises the job he is faced with in the future in helping us enjoy the game. West Indies cricket is all about enjoying and having fun and at the end being very successful doing it.”
The situation really is this bad. Neither the board or the players’ association (WIPA) can agree on any tour which takes place and, even if they do eventually strike a deal, it usually ends in somebody’s resignation. Furthermore, the board fail to recognise or admit their own enormous failures. It is one big buck-passing sham and, very soon, there may not even be a West Indies team. It’s that serious.
Not even Sir Viv can save them now. A win tomorrow, though still unlikely, would be the most tremendous fillip imaginable for them and I can’t help but wish (guiltily so) Shivnarine Chanderpaul is there to guide them home.
No Comments »WICB – another cricket authority lacking leadership
By Will 6 years ago, at the end of November, 1 Comment »
The excellent Weblog over at CaribbeanCricket.com has an interesting post about the WICB. There never seems to be an end to board/player conflicts in the West Indies. I really hope things settle long before their 2007 World Cup, but the feedback from the supporters doesn’t look at all promising.
