WICB Wanted Bangladesh Tour Moved
Thu, Mar 4, '04
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) stands to lose US$2.2 million on the upcoming Bangladesh tour of the Caribbean and, because of that, president Teddy Griffith has directed that expenses be slashed to minimise the losses.
According to an internal WICB document reviewed by CaribbeanCricket.com, the WICB boss even made the unusual move to initiate discussions with the Bangladesh Cricket Board about the possibility of playing the series in Bangladesh.
However, those discussions never progressed meaningfully and the WICB has since finalised the Bangladesh tour schedule to limit most of the games to St Vincent and Grenada. An earlier plan to play a Test match in Guyana has been nixed because of expected rainy season in Guyana and Jamaica will now host the second Test from June 4-8.
At a January meeting of the WICB's cricket committee (playing and development), Griffith floated the US$2.2 million loss projection and made it clear that discussions were still taking place to determine whether television coverage should be geared for officials only because it was in effect a secondary series.
According to Griffith, the Bangladesh series (two Tests and three ODIs) would be the first for which SKY and not TWI would be providing the television coverage. If television coverage is limited to officials only, it would save the WICB hefty costs of extra cameras and the frills associated full coverage.
Interestingly, even as Griffith was stressing the importance of saving money, the decision to award a Test match to Jamaica went against the grain of a proposal from WICB chief cricket operations officer Zorol Barthley to confine all the games to St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia.
Barthley had even given some thought to the Cayman Islands or Bermuda as possible host countries for tour games but Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president thought that such a suggestion was belittling to Bangladesh. Barthley's plan was to cut down on travel costs by holding two ODIs in St Vincent, an ODI, a three-day match and the first Test in Grenada and the second Test in St Lucia.
However, when the schedule was finalised late last month, Jamaica suddenly appeared as the host venue for the second Test. It appears that Barthley's proposal, which had to be endorsed by the board of directors, was changed at the last minute.
The Bangladesh Tour of West Indies 2004 itinerary now reads:
May 9 -- Bangladesh arrives
May 1 -- Practice One Day game
May 15 -- 1st ODI, St Vincent
May 16 -- 2nd ODI St Vincent
May 19 -- 3rd ODI Grenada
May 22 -- 24 Tour match, Grenada
May 28 -- June 1 1st Test, St Lucia
June 4 -- 8 2nd Test, Jamaica
June 9 -- Bangladesh departs