Ken Gordon Defends Teddy Griffith

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon insists the board's negotiators that inked the controversial sponsorship contract with Digicel did so with "apparent" or "ostensible" authority.

In a direct response to an assertion in the Lucky Report that the Digicel deal was flawed and invalid because the negotiators did not have legal authority, Gordon insists the former WICB president (Teddy Griffith and CEO Roger Brathwaite) acted on behalf of the board.

According to a transcript of a speech made by Gordon at a recent event in Trinidad & Tobago, the WICB boss offered a direct response to Justice Anthony Lucky's bombshell claim that Digicel deal was null and void.

"What his minority view did not state is that while a director's ability to bind a company in its dealings with third parties is frequently based on what is known as "actual authority", a director without actual authority can also bind the company, if the company has represented, or permitted it to be represented, that the director has authority to act on its behalf," Gordon argued.

"This is known as "apparent" or "ostensible" authority and the Letter of Intent approved by the WICB board made it clear that the negotiating team had authority to conclude the agreement. In other words, the chairman and the chief executive officer of the WICB acted on the basis of "apparent" or "ostensible" authority, and such action was therefore entirely valid," he added.

In a column syndicated around the Caribbean, veteran scribe Tony Cozier takes a hard look at the level of overspending at the WICB secretariat that has added to the board's financial problems.

While noting that the most devastating effect on the WICB's finances has been created by the ICC Future Tours program, Cozier noted that the WICB's internal administrative costs have "spiralled out of control."

The board's cost-cutting committee has advised that a whopping US$723 000 can be saved yearly if certain administrative expenses are pared. "It is a whopping figure and the question needs to be asked why not even a financial crisis could alert those in charge of the day-to-day operations to such extravagance," Cozier wrote.

He said the two most revealing recommendations are for a "reduction in per diem allowances, to be brought in line with regional corporate levels" and "a review of credit card usage on a quarterly basis".

In the first instance, it must be asked how the per diem allowances of such an impoverished organisation managed to be more than "regional corporate levels". In both cases, the references indicate, at best, lax accounting; at worst, abuse of the system. These are areas over which the WICB should have had more control and to which it now has to pay more attention," Cozier added.

In the Jamaica Gleaner, columnist Tony Becca again laments the lack of support for club cricket in the West Indies.

"Why is West Indies cricket getting worse and worse?" Becca asked, before providing a direct answer: "Because club cricket is getting worse and worse.",/p>

He continued: "Until some attention is paid to it, until those who love cricket in the society get involved, until some money is pumped into the clubs so that they can survive and by doing so provide proper facilities, proper training, and proper guidance and grooming for young players, it will continue to get worse."

"Right now, but for those who sponsor competitions for the clubs, no one is interested in the clubs - and competitions are useless if clubs, because of the lack of facilities and equipment, cannot prepare their grounds, cannot prepare their players to participate in them."

The clubs need help or they are going to die - and if they die, so too will cricket in the West Indies, Becca added.

Bermuda's cricket officials have embarked on an island-wide hunt for suitable soil to prepare a true pitch at the National Sports Centre.

According to a CMC report, the quality of the pitch at the island's main cricket arena has apparently deteriorated in the last two years, and the Board of Trustees of the NSC is looking to improve its nature.

"We are appealing to those persons who believe that they can assist us in this process of locating suitable Bermuda clay to provide us with specific and precise information on its whereabouts," said Dr. Gerard Bean, chairman of the Board of Trustees. "In light of considerable public discussion and debate surrounding the pitch, the trustees have decided to exhaust every possible avenue to determine whether or not the clay we need can in fact be found in Bermuda."

On the WICB's WindiesCricket.com comes news that heavy rains have again forced changes in the board's Under-23 Women's tournament.

The tournament, originally scheduled to start last Saturday, begins today but adjustments had to be made to the venues announced on Friday.

There are six participating teams -- Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, host Trinidad & Tobago and a Development XI team - made up of young players from some of the participating countries.