Almost four years after Brian Lara and Carl Hooper led a West
Indies player revolt over fees for the historic tour of South
Africa, the entire episode still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth
of former captain Clive Lloyd.
In an interview with Wisden
Online, Lloyd said the events of that catastropic tour hurt
deeply. "I lost interest (in West Indies cricket), especially after
they refused to play in Nelson Mandela's country and left. Their
demands for more money were met. I will never forget that. I would
have walked to South Africa if I had been in a similar position,
considering what went on and what changes came about. It just
showed that players at that time did not care much about those kind
of things."
A speedy report is expected from the West Indies Cricket Board
(WICB) on the outcome of Tuesday's South Coast meeting here with
its disciplinary committee and three regional "A" team players, who
were accused of misconduct during the summer tour to Britain and
Canada.
"The committee met with all three players. They will submit a
report to the Board in the shortest possible time and once the
Board is satisfied with the recommendations, it will release the
information and take the actions recommended therein," WICB Chief
Operations Officer Mike Hall said.
At the beginning all went more than well with young Hooper. He
soon became one of the great young West Indians - in 1987, for
instance, dominating the regional Youth series as it had never been
dominated before and is unlikely to be dominated again.
When he entered upon his first-class career in the regional
competition he at once scored a century which he himself remembers
with particular delight and which made him a hero in the eyes of
the knowledgeable cricket-lovers at Kensington.
Who said the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was broke?
CaribbeanCricket.com has confirmed the cash-strapped board shelled
out a six-figure sum (in $US) to ousted CEO Gregory Shillingford as
part of an agreement that bars him from legally challenging the
dismissal.
It it not known exactly how much money was involved in the
"settlement", which was styled as an "ex-gratia payment" in
Caribbean media reports. The Dominican Sun, which broke the story,
said the payout was made without prejudice on condition that the
former CEO waves his rights to challenge the fairness of his
termination in any court in Antigua and Barbuda or elsewhere.
The upcoming Test series between India and the West Indies in
India is evoking a considerable amount of interest in the Caribbean
for several reasons most notably that the West Indies team to India
will be the most inexperienced in any decades. Of the current
player, only the captain Carl Hooper with six Tests and Shiv
Chanderpaul with a single Test have toured India before.
West Indies first played India in 1948-49 when John Goddard's West
Indies team toured India. Goddard's team included the incomparable
George Headley who only played one match, the most successful WI
opening pair after Greenidge & Haynes - Alan Rae & Jeff
Stollmeyer; an embryonic three W's - Clyde Walcott & Everton
Weekes; the middle order of Robert Christiani, George Carew, &
Gerry Gomez and the bowling attack of Francis Cameron, Prior Jones,
John Trim, Denis Atkinson and Wilfred Ferguson.
