WICB to discuss 'threats' at ICC board meeting

Tue, Mar 11, '08

 

With three of the top West Indies players involved in the Indian Board's International Premier League (IPL) which takes place during the Sri Lanka - Australia Tours of the Caribbean, what is the impact of the IPL on the future of West Indies Cricket?

This and other key issues including the use of technology to review umpires' decisions and the "Bucknor" matter are on the agenda of the next ICC Executive Board Meeting which takes place in Dubai on March 16–18, 2008.
President of the WICB Julian Hunte, who will represent the regional board at the meeting, said there is deep concern about the future impact of leagues like the IPL on West Indies cricket particularly when their seasons are in direct competition with tours or domestic seasons.

"We and New Zealand will be the big losers," Hune declared.  "Already it is clear that three of our players will have to choose between representing teams in the IPL or representing their region. Given the amount of money at stake, it already seems to be a foregone conclusion. We also have the ICL and again the dilemma faced by our players.  We just had an example of a player who would have been selected for the WI team but who went to the ICL," he aded.
 
At the most recent meeting of Chief Executive Officers of ICC Member Countries, WICB chief executive Donald Peters also raised the question of a window for the IPL and a similar window for Stanford 20/20 with which the WICB is negotiating a license for the Regional 20/20 event.

"The IPL is the second biggest threat facing West Indies.  There is an even bigger one.  There is a move to limit the first tier of Test Playing countries to the top seven which will then leave the West Indies with only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to play," Peters said.

Hunte said he will fight against this "attempt to marginalise West Indies cricket."

"The WICB will never allow this to happen.  In most of the cricket playing countries of the world, we are the team they like most after their national team.  However, we have to use this as motivation to get back to the top of world cricket.  Our players must be mindful of this when they go out to play since if our standing in world cricket does not improve we might find our options and opportunities severely limited," the WICB president said.

On the "Bucknor” matter, Hunte said he wrote to the ICC asking for information on the removal of the West Indian umpire from the Test series between Australia and India and was insulted that the ICC refused to share information on its decision.

"So far, I have not received the information I sought and I consider this an insult to the WICB which is a full-member of the ICC," Hunte added.

The ICC meeting will also look at the use of technology to review the decisions of umpires and how that will operate.  The WICB fully supports any innovations in the game that will ensure fairness and improved decision-making.