Maybe next time, they will think twice

Tue Jan 27, 2015

The situation in which the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) now finds itself, with the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) tightening the screws on it, should hopefully serve as an object lesson for those involved.{{more}}

Over the last few days, there have been some important developments in the fallout which began last October, when the West Indies cricket team walked out on the one-day tour of India, resulting in the cancellation of the remaining one-day match, a Twenty/20 International and the scheduled three-Test tour.

Last week, the BCCI, in a letter to the CARICOM Secretary General, demanded payment by today, January 27, of the US$42 million it claims it lost when the West Indies cricket team withdrew from the tour. The BCCI says it can no longer hold off, and if this most recent demand is not met, the the BCCI will pursue its claims against the WICB in the Courts in India.

Following swiftly on the heels of this demand from the BCCI, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves unleashed his wrath on President of the WICB Dave Cameron, blaming him for the predicament the WICB now finds itself in and saying he should be fired.

Gonsalves has said that Cameron had a very dismissive attitude to the players and to the BCCI. If that is so, there seems to have been poor attitudes all around — from the players, their union (the West Indies Players Association) and from the WICB.

And in all of this, there has been no genuine expression of regret from any of those main players. As usual, the people of the region are expected to take whatever they dish out.

But this time, the players and the WICB may have bitten off more than they can chew. The Indians will not walk away from this empty-handed. The BCCI seems intent on collecting what it says it is owed, and why shouldn’t they? The question is, who will foot the bill? Certainly not the taxpayers of the region.

CARICOM yesterday sent off a letter to Sanjay Patel, the Honorary Secretary for the BCCI, inviting him to a meeting in Grenada to pursue efforts at resolving the matter.

But what does CARICOM expect will come from that meeting? That the BCCI will drop its claim? Hardly likely. If anything, the meeting may just delay the inevitable.

Maybe next time, before acting in as precipitous and as cavalier a manner as they all did, the players, the WICB and WIPA will think twice.