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Dire straits for Windies cricket

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Just a few minutes ago, a live telecast by Teddy Griffith ended. It addressed the whole ménage à trois concerning the WICB, Digicel and WIPA. It just served to stress the dire situation of West Indies cricket with such complications of sponsorship and endorsements, whilst furthering the point that commercialism ruins sport.

The most pressing issue of the matter for the unattached cricket fan is that Mr. Griffith stated that the Board has asked for 8 players not to be considered for selection for the upcoming series against South Africa and Pakistan. Those players are:

Brian Lara
Chris Gayle
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Fidel Edwards
Ravi Rampaul
Omari Banks
Dwayne Smith
Dwayne Bravo

What state does this leave West Indies cricket in for the moment if these matter cannot be resolved very soon? The most likely outcome of a team minus Lara, Gayle and Sarwan is heavy defeat at the hands of allcomers.

What are the thoughts of all on this matter?
 

Don

State Vice-Captain
Its thenend.its the end of West Indies cricket as we know it.the WICB has in esscence killed west indies cricket by deeming Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan ,Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards ,Ravi Rampaul ,Dwayne smith and Omari banks.
The wicb has ruled out some of the promising young stars of the west indies.Where do we go from here with impending tours against south africa and pakistan.How is the West Indies supposed to put forth a serious challenge with the core players in the team now pushed to the edge of the wilderness.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
This is absolutely terrible. I really hope this can be resolved, but it doesn't look good at all.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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In the event that the combo Lara/Sarwan/Gayle is ruled out, I think we can expect Marshall/Morton/Joseph to slip in, or something close to that combo. I know which I (as a sane individual and supporter of WI cricket) would prefer.
 

mavric41

State Vice-Captain
Its about time that the ICC grew some balls and stepped in and fixed this. And they should stop the slaughter in South Africa.
 

Don

State Vice-Captain
if it comes to that i wud say stop west indies cricket until all this can be resolved.
and if the team must play i say bring back ganga as an opener.I have faith in him and if things are bad i am sure he wud at least bring some respectiability to the order
 
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Mr Mxyzptlk

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That would only do more harm to the regional game than good. The process that would be entailed in shutting down regional cricket temporarily would leave permanent stretch marks and I don't think that West Indies cricket can survive it.
 

Top_Cat

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Terrible, terrible, terrible.
Bit harsh, mate. You have absolutely no idea whether Mark Knopfler, John Illsey, Alan Clarke or Pick Withers will be good cricketers so to judge them before the WI picks them is simply horrible, despite their musical careers being long dead.

;)

Seriously; take this as a warning of what's to come in the major cricketing nations. Maybe not to this extent but the rumblings o the non-selection of the WI's best players will likely continue for a while yet.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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LongHopCassidy said:
What part does sponsorship play in excluding the aforementioned players?
Those players have individual contracts with C&W. The WICB wants to ensure the contracts have the players totally unconnected to the West Indies team, as it would clash with Digicel's sponsorship otherwise.
 

garage flower

State Vice-Captain
Apparently, there's a meeting in a couple of days involving the Grenadian Prime Minister (Keith Mitchell?), who stepped in successfully to delay the crisis and ensure participation in the VB Series.

Very disappointing that the WICB have acted before this meeting, particularly as C&W have apparently offered significant concessions in terms of trying to avoid any link to the West Indies team in their sponsorship of individual players.

I assume, if progress isn't made at the meeting mentioned above, WIPA will again advise selcted players not to sign the match/tour contract for the forthcoming internationals. If the "unaffected" players show solidarity with the C&W gang, it'll be a case of finding a compromise/WICB-Digicel backing down, or no cricket. After what happened in relation to the pre-tour camp last year, I'd guess that Shiv Chanderpaul would be prepared to captain an uncompetitive West Indian team in a series of pointless no-contests.

The Board's craven attitude towards Digicel seems to be a result of shocking (mis)management of funds, which has led to them estimating a cumulative budget deficit of US$14.0 million by September 30, 2005. Shouldn't they be the ones in the dock, rather than the players?
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
It sounds a pretty awful scenario. The way it reads it seems as tho Windies cricket may be heading for a massive schism a la Packer's WSC. :(

I'm just hoping both sides are indulging in a spot of brinksmanship thru the fourth estate. Otherwise it's just lose/lose.
 

Don

State Vice-Captain
HEY Liam lets look up into this [itch digging thing we can plan it for 2 days b4 the test
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Top_Cat said:
Seriously; take this as a warning of what's to come in the major cricketing nations. Maybe not to this extent but the rumblings o the non-selection of the WI's best players will likely continue for a while yet.
This has been coming for ages, and I really hope it means both Boards and individual players (plus ICC) get their heads down and concentrate VERY HARD on ensuring that this sort of thing cannot happen in future.
 

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