The Other Side of the Coin

Despite all the fuss over his perfectly legal business activites in Guyana and the way the WICB's Executive Committee engineered his ascension to the throne, Chetram Singh will most likely still find himself the next boss of West Indies cricket.

This is, after all, how we do business in the Caribbean -- the backroom deals, the power brokering, and the secret agreements to make sure that nothing really changes no matter how much it appears to.

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) chief is well known for his strong-arm tactics against the WICB and its other member boards. He is a man that does not bat an eyelash at threatening to quit a regional institution if he does not get his Test match, or using legal injunctions to keep rivals at home at bay. In short, Chetram Singh does not seem like a man overly burdened with scruples.

With all this in mind it should come as no surprise that so many cricket fans in and out of the region are opposed to his upcoming appointment, which with Willie Rodrigues' withdrawal now must surely be a fait accompli.

Given its inevitability, perhaps we should instead look for some positives in the appointment of Wes Hall's successor. After all, in recent years the WICB has had to bow to just about everyone - from the players to the ICC. Most significantly, the WICB was forced to accept the terms of the ICC's new ten year plan which puts West Indies cricket in the position of being unable to survive financially in the long term.

For those who missed it, the ICC imposed a system ending the WICB's ability to negotiate fees for a tour and replaced it with a fixed fee structure. Under this system the WICB now operates at a financial loss in almost every series the West Indies play and only make money hosting teams like India and Australia to whom they can sell back the television rights, with the net result still being a loss.

This in turn means that the WICB has had to mortage itself to Sky in a four year deal which gives the British company all of the West Indies overseas cricket rights. The deal doesn't start until 2004 but the word is that the board has already borrowed against a chunk of the $40 million dollars the deal is worth, banking on the 2007 WC to bring them back into the black.

But then what? Wes Hall and the rest of the WICB executives have been holding up the World Cup as the fiscal saviour of West Indies cricket, but when that money is spent - assuming it comes in at all - the WICB is back to operating at a deficit. The inescapable conclusion is that the current system for remuneration must change if West Indies cricket is to survive.

If the only thing 'Chetty' achieves in his upcoming term at the helm of the WICB is to rectify this situation then his term will have to be judged a success, especially by the standards of his predecessors. Perhaps the same man who is capable of making the WICB dance to Guyana's tune can make the ICC rally 'round the West Indies'.

Indeed, if anyone can concoct and execute a scheme for the lowly West Indies to bully the other ICC members into revisiting the current arrangement, it is Singh. Clearly Reverend Hall's strong Christian morality was not up to the task. It is doubtful that Pat Rousseau's old boys connection would have much effect at that level either. No, what we need to deal with this beast is some low down, below the belt dirty tricks. We need someone with a record of getting the job done, however he does it.

Now on the surface, the lowly WICB may seem to have no teeth, no bartering chip as it were. But on the other hand it also really has nothing to lose in the long run. Either it finds a new operating structure, one under which it can at least cover expenses, or the demise of West Indies as an entity playing cricket is inevitable. That's not conjecture, that's a financial reality!

Enter Chetram Singh. If you want a man to tell the ICC that he will only participate in series where his expenses are covered, you want Singh. A man who can threaten the WICB with the withdrawal of Guyana and all her cricketers can surely explain to the ICC that until they create a more equitable arrangement he will pick and choose which series Brian Lara's men will attend.

For those who think there is no bite in that bark, ask yourselves which Test playing nation would be willing to step in at a loss to their own coffers to provide an alternate opposition.

Think of the repercussions this would cause at the ICC. Already India refuses to play Pakistan - add the West Indies refusing to play any series where they lose money and an already weak system could very well collapse. Furthermore, such an action by the West Indies could well serve as a catalyst for other countries with an axe to grind to start boycotting series here and there. The ICC can ill afford this kind of contention within its ranks.

The naysayers will by now be shaking their heads and muttering that any such action would lead to the downfall of the West Indies as a cricket nation. That may indeed be the case, but with eventual bankruptcy an inevitability what other option is there? Surely it is better to make a stand than just quietly capitulate?

So rather than focussing on the negatives of a done deal, let us instead see how we can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. We will have some leadership with teeth, set him to go bite someone. Who knows - if Singh can pull this off, maybe history will remember him as the man who 'got it done'.

It's certainly worth taking odds on it.