WICB to seek atonement with players

President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Dave Cameron says a retreat with the players, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), selectors and the technical team to review player, management and technical plans, will take place next month.{{more}}

This disclosure came last Sunday, hours after captain of the West Indies T20 team Darren Sammy blasted the operations of the WICB.

Sammy, in a post match interview following the West Indies four-wicket win over England in the ICC World Twenty/20 final in dramatic fashion at Eden Garden in India, openly slammed the WICB for its treatment of the team.

Unreserved in his revelations, Sammy stated: “…We had a new manager in this tournament in Rawl Lewis; he had never managed any team before. He came here; we were at a camp in Dubai, but we had no uniforms, no printing. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata; that’s where he started. The trouble he went to, to get us in this uniform…. I got to give credit to the entire team here; it was us in our own little circle; this win, we dedicate it to all our fans in the Caribbean.”

Among the persons Sammy praised for supporting the team was prime minister of Grenada Dr Keith Mitchell, who is chair of the CARICOM sub-committee of Cricket Governance.

“Lastly, I really want to thank the heads of Caricom; throughout this tournament, they have been supporting the team; we’ve got emails, we’ve got phone calls; Prime Minister Mitchell, he sent a very inspiring email for the team this morning, and I’m yet to hear from our own cricket board; that is very disappointing,” Sammy reported.

Joining Sammy in lashing out at the WICB was former West Indies One-Day International captain Dwayne Bravo, who claimed that the BCCI is more supportive than the WICB.

“The country’s cricket is not in right hands. We have not got a telephone call from any of the WICB officials or directors; that’s not a good thing. We know that they did not want or believe that we could win this tournament. It was basically us against them; even the BCCI does more for us,” Bravo said in an interview with Star Sports in India.

But Cameron later, in a release, countered this saying, “The President would like to however apologise for what could be deemed inappropriate, comments made by the West Indies’ male captain, Darren Sammy in a post-match interview and would like to apologise on behalf of the WICB, to the millions of fans who witnessed.”

Cameron, in part of his congratulatory message to the West Indies men’s 20/20 outfit, also disclosed that the WICB will be looking to find common ground with the West Indies top players who ply their trade in the lucrative Twenty/20 professional leagues across the globe.

“We want to see how we can find common ground in ensuring that the best players in the region are available for selection for West Indies teams…We are fully aware of the financial rewards on offer in the lucrative international T20 leagues, but we believe deeply in the importance of cricket to the people of the region and of West Indies cricket’s place in world cricket… It is therefore a priority to have all of our players competing and available for selection,” Cameron said in his release.

Sammy, in concluding his interview on Sunday, reasserted, “I don’t know when I’m going to be playing with these guys again, because we don’t get selected for one-day cricket…We don’t know when we’re going to be playing T20.” (RT)