Dyson: WICB reneged on my contract terms
Republished from ESPN CricinfoJohn Dyson has broken his silence over his shock axing as West Indies head coach by questioning the professionalism of the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) decision makers. Conde Riley, the outgoing Barbados board member, stated last week that Dyson had been sacked for failing to sign a contract with the WICB, however the former Australian batsman countered that no suitable deal had been extended to him.
According to Dyson, the first contract offered to him by the West Indies board was addressed to Bennett King, the former Queensland coach who preceded him in the role. Subsequent attempts to clarify disputed clauses within the document were not resolved, he added, prompting him to withhold his signature for the entire 19 months he was at the helm.
Dyson was fired after West Indies' calamitous series defeat to Bangladesh, during which the board named a severely depleted squad in the absence of striking senior players to avoid a heavy ICC fine. West Indies lost their last four Tests under Dyson, but recorded commendable victories over South Africa, Sri Lanka and England in the 15 matches before industrial strife tore the team apart.
"It is correct that I didn't sign a contract, but the question is why," Dyson told Cricinfo. "The first contract I was presented with had written on it Bennett King's name and address. Obviously, I couldn't sign that. Then there were three points I felt needed clarification. It took more than two months for them to clarify the first point, and they never got back to me on points two and three. I was never offered a contract I felt reflected what we had discussed previously. But it would seem the WICB have problems with contracts with quite a few people, and not just me.
"The only discussion I have had thus far was a phone call from (acting chief executive) Steve Camacho. He told me the executive of the board had decided to terminate my employment with immediate effect. When I told him that I was a bit shocked and asked him why, he said that he was just the messenger and that he had fulfilled his duty as messenger. I haven't heard any more since then. If I had been in some drunken fight then and brought disgrace upon myself and the board then perhaps I could understand. When I was working for the (NSW) department of education there was a process to follow in these sorts of matters. It has been disappointing."
Dyson has described the ongoing industrial dispute between the West Indies board and players as a "tragedy."
"It's a tragedy that West Indies is playing international cricket without its strongest team on the park," he said, "To me, Test cricket is about the best players from your part of the world playing against the best players from another part of the world and that did not happen against Bangladesh. That is not to talk down the new team - there are players there who I think have now overtaken one or two of the older team - but the fact is that the best team hasn't been playing.
"I made my Test debut playing for Australia during the world series split, but I didn't really feel like I made my debut until after I was being picked with all the players back. I still feel like that to this day. What happened in the series against Bangladesh was extremely sad. Some of the blokes in that series showed that they were ready for the step up - guys like Kemar Roach, Travis Dowlin and Darren Sammy - but any team is going to miss the likes of Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Ramdin, Bravo, Taylor, Edwards when fit and Benn when in form. If they could get their best side on the park I think they could give a tournament like the Champions Trophy a real shake. But to survive, West Indies cricket needs its best team on the park."
"There had been a lot of industrial problems on the tour of England and I had asked the board that at all costs make sure they end the industrial relations issues so we could pick the best West Indies side out there," Dyson said. "I don't think anything can happen until there is some sort of resolution. There have been a lot of people talking without a lot of positive action being taken. There is fault on both the WIPA and the board side."