Published: Jul 09, 2016, 11:08 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 09, 2016, 11:08 AM (IST)
The CARICOM has maintained and stuck to its decision to dissolve the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and has also stated that it will soon be creating a prime-ministerial sub-committee that will have greater say on Cricket in the Caribbean. The regional body also disregarded Gaston Browne’s say on the matter as the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister had rejected the idea of dissolving the WICB. Browne feels the dissoultion of the WICB will lead to chaos and confusion and was therefore completely against the recommendation. A earlier report by a CARICOM cricket panel last year had called the WICB’s structure and governance as “antiquated”, “obsolete” and “anachronistic”. READ: Caricom leaders not doing enough for West Indies cricket, says WICB vice-president
After the CARICOM Heads of Government conference, held in Guyana ended on July 6, Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell told Jamaica Gleaner, “We will do everything possible to effect the decision,” on July 6 in Guyana. We’re looking at legal options on the basis that cricket is a public good run by a private institution.”
Mitchell who had also backed the panel’s findings last year said it was not his alone, it was a collective decison and therefore Browne’s stand didn’t stand much chance.
He said, “It is a common position of the Heads, not individual positions, and we cannot operate on the basis of individual positions, it’s about the Heads,” as quoted by CMC. “When I expressed my sentiments on cricket, it was about what the Heads said – the committee that we established jointly with the West Indies Cricket Board – and we agreed between the subcommittee and the West Indies Cricket Board to implement the recommendations. So it was not a Keith Mitchell decision, it was not a Keith Mitchell activity, it was a committee set up by the West Indies Cricket Board and the Heads of Government,” he added. READ: Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne rejects call for dissolving WICB
Meanwhile, Browne who supported the WICB said – “That (recommendation to dissolve) is a recipe for chaos and confusion and we are totally opposed to any forced dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board,”
But CARICOM was adamant in its approach as Roosevelt Skerrit, the Dominica prime minister and chairman of CARICOM said, “There were two before; one on governance issues and one of the larger issues confronting cricket…this is a new committee on cricket mandated to examine all matters relating to the development of cricket, which is a very wide area of concentration.”
