When Cricket Clashes with Hurricane...

Against the background of this weekend's complete wash-out, and concerned about a further threat of rain for the remainder of the season, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will strongly urge the International Cricket Council (ICC) not to stage matches in the Caribbean in the hurricane season.

And if the game's governing body does not co-operate, it could signal the demise of West Indies cricket, says WICB president Reverend Wes Hall.

"I have been proselytising with near evangelical zeal to the ICC about this position," Hall said yesterday amidst non-stop rain that forced the abandonment of the second successive Cable & Wireless One-Day International between West Indies and India at Sabina Park.

"We are worried because we are West Indians and we know the weather patterns."

The hurricane season starts on June 1 and this weekend?s torrential rain has prompted fears that the remaining eight One-Day Internationals and two Tests could be ruined by rain.

In the past, the international season in the Caribbean would have ended by now, but under the new ICC ten-year programme, the West Indies are required to play two home series a year, which has caused the season to be extended until July 2.

ICC president Malcolm Gray and chief executive officer Malcolm Speed were here over the weekend for discussions with WICB officials and the regional body plans to send a detailed financial statement to them, outlining the implications derived from the ICC?s programme.

"They came to us in cordial circumstances and we were able to say to them as a board what are our opinions and how these revenue streams that have been depleted have completely caused us problems," Hall said.

"If that is not addressed, we will see the orchestration of the demise of West Indies cricket. World cricket without a strong West Indies is not world cricket. I would say the same for England and Australia. There are certain teams in world cricket that the people out there want to see and the West Indies cricket team is one."

The only other recent instance of an international Caribbean season extending to June was in 1997 when the final Test against Sri Lanka in St Vincent was also badly affected by the weather.

Under the proposed schedule, next season?s itinerary, which features visits by Australia and Sri Lanka, is set to end on July 2.

"We feel that to play at this time of the year is problematical. June is not a particularly great month to play cricket. You can?t play in Trinidad to start with and we haven?t seen the sun in Jamaica for four or five days ? and this is May," Hall said.

"They [ICC officials] have first-hand knowledge. They were here yesterday [Saturday]. That helps us with the point. We don?t know what we can do. We will put the figures forward. The ICC has not been adversarial to us on this."

In the past, the WICB supplied the ICC with some figures, but it led to no significant change.

"The ICC looked at them and said that the figures that we were supposed to send were not forthcoming and when they were forthcoming, they were just a tip of the iceberg, so we are going to send ?real-real? figures as it effects us. Our chartered accountant will see to that," Hall added.

* This report first appeared in the Barbados Nation newspaper.