The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

WICB in a corner over India pullout issue

Sun, Aug 23, '15

by TONY COZIER

Commentary

It has become the modern equivalent of a long-forgotten timeless Test.

It is ten months since West Indies players, disgruntled over terms of their contracts, packed their kit bags and prematurely ended their scheduled tour of India.

Stating that the West Indies Cricket Board had given it "a binding commitment" for nine matches to be played, an angry BCCI presented it with an itemised compensation claim for US$41.97 million for its "unilateral cancellation" of the series. It covered the loss of media rights fees; title, team, kit and stadia sponsorships; and ticket revenue.

For an organisation advised in the last annual report of its auditors that "the existence of a material uncertainty may cast significant doubt about the board's ability to continue as a going concern", it was a clearly impossible ultimatum.

In a letter to the BCCI proposing what it called "a grand settlement", secretary-general Irwin Larocque of Caricom, the association of 15 Caribbean governments, reiterated the point. "I should let you know that the reality is that the WICB is on the verge of insolvency and the BCCI claim simply cannot be met in whole or in part," he wrote, adding that the Caricom governments "do not intend to allocate any financial resources to this resolution".

 

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