Viv Booted from Selection Panel

Sun, Jun 20, '04

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has dumped Sir Viv Richards from the senior selection panel.

The dramatic removal of the selection committee chairman follows a week of intense lobbying by the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), aided by captain Brian Lara, for Richards to be replaced. Former Guyana off-spinner Clyde Butts will join the panel, which will now be chaired by Joey Carew.

Barbadian Gordon Greenidge has also been retained.

The WICB has opted for what is being described as "interim selection committees" for the next two months pending the conclusion of the review of the management structure of the West Indies team that was conducted by vice president Val Banks.

The review of the management structure was accepted in principle by the WICB directors at their meeting in Guyana this weekend and, as previously reported, the new structure will have a specific impact on the role of selectors. The new structure calls for the head coach to be empowered and given specific goals and performance-related responsibilities. The selection panel will work as scouts under the coach's supervision and will not be proactively involved in the team.

The interim junior selection panel was unchanged. Butts will remain chairman of that committee and work alongside Ezra Moseley and Derek Parry.

Officially, the board said Richards committed himself to doing commentary for the BBC during the current West Indies tour to England and, on that basis, he was unavailable to continue his role on the selection committee.

But, as one senior official explained, Richards' work for the BBC was a "convenient excuse" for the plan to oust him from the panel.