WICB batting on $ticky wicket
Thu, Oct 23, '14
AS the directors of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) met in an emergency session in Barbados on Tuesday “to conduct a thorough assessment of all the ramifications” of Friday’s unprecedented abandonment of the Indian tour, they faced the prospect that the organisation could go out of business should the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) press a claim for damages along with its suspension of future bilateral tours.
The directors entered their meeting on Tuesday hours after the BCCI confirmed its intention to defer future bilateral tours; the International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme (FTP) lists India for five series against the West Indies in the next eight years, including four visits to the Caribbean.
Although it did not specifically mention earlier speculation that it would seek compensation from the WICB for financial losses, it stated that it would start legal proceedings.
It is estimated that the revenue shortfall from 17 blank playing days on the cancelled tour, mainly through television rights and ticket sales, is over US$60 million.
Doubts over the WICB’s survival had already been raised before the present crisis by the chartered accountants, KPMG, in the last financial statement for the year ending September 30, 2013.
KPMG warned that the net loss for the preceding year of US$5,821,413, along with shareholders’ deficiencies of US$5,693,323, “raise substantial doubt that the company will be able to continue as a going concern”.
