Praises for Gonsalves for his handling of WI cricketers, WIPA dispute

Tue Nov 11, 2014

Editor: SVG’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves should be congratulated for his brilliance in resolving the dispute between the cricketers, their bargaining agent and the WIPA, as well as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).{{more}}

In fact, as a former cricket administrator and journalist, I dispatched an email to the Prime Minister extending my appreciation for his gallant contribution.

Gonsalves, with his usual style and aggressiveness, brought the stakeholders to the table and resolved the issue at the Caribbean level, but there is still more work to be done to try to dissuade the BCCI, the Indian Cricket Board, from taking legal proceedings against the WICB for $42 million – money lost because the two test matches and one ODI were called off because of the silly action of the players. In fact, a three-member task force, comprising former test cricketer and government minister Sir Wes Hall, former Barbados Chief Justice David Simmonds, and Senior Counsel Kenneth Lalla from Trinidad has been set up to work on the BCCI and maybe the International Cricket Council (ICC) to resolve this burning issue.

Captain Dwayne Bravo and the rebel cricketers who refused to continue to play in India because of the wage dispute should consider themselves very lucky that no sanction will be imposed on them and they would be eligible for selection to the tour to South Arica, Moreover, the contentious Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the WICB and the president of the WIPA, Wavel Hinds, will now return to the negotiating table.

The players have been given the assurance that they would now have a say concerning their proposed pay cuts. Among the personnel at the six-hour meeting in Port of Spain were Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell; president of the WICB Dave Cameron; players’ representatives Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin, as well as their legal representative Ralph Thorne. The meeting was chaired by Dr Gonsalves.

It would be recalled that the SVG leader, was instrumental in resolving the impasse between Chris Gayle and the WICB a few years ago.

Oscar Ramjeet