PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The West Indies Cricket Board, at a meeting of the Board of Directors, on Saturday November 24 and Sunday November 25 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, expressed grave concern at the length of time it is taking for a resolution to be had to the situation in Guyana.
The Board further implores all parties involved to use their best endeavours to ensure that the situation with regard to cricket in Guyana returns to a level of acceptability in the shortest possible period.
The WICB also reminds the public that at a meeting of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket held in Antigua in September 2012, the Sub-Committee recommended that all efforts be made towards resolving the ongoing issues between the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Cricket Board, and appointed the Prime Minister of Barbados the Honourable Freundel Stuart as mediator.
The Board awaits the outcome of this critical process; however restates its commitment to play its role in finding resolution and has acted in accordance with this commitment in the past.
The Board reiterates its position that it recognizes the Guyana Cricket Board as the sole governing body responsible for the administration, management and development of cricket in Guyana. Further the Board reminds that the Guyana Cricket Board is a shareholder of the WICB.
The WICB has used its best endeavours to ensure that the players and match officials have participated in every regional tournament under the auspices of the WICB since the situation in Guyana developed.
The deadline for submission of squads to participate in the Caribbean Twenty20 2013 was November 22, 2012. The GCB did not submit the Guyana team by this deadline and has not submitted the Guyana team to date.
The Board has therefore directed the WICB Management to again request the GCB to provide a Guyana team to participate in the Caribbean Twenty20 and for WICB Management to set a date by which the Guyana team is to be submitted.
The WICB Management will set the date and once finalised will communicate same to the GCB and the public.
The International Cricket Conference, the ICC, the governing body for cricket around the world, is rethinking its stance on governments' interference in cricket. Just about a year ago, the ICC said it would be following the well-established principle of other national federations which states that federations should be autonomous and free from governments' interference in the administration of their affairs.
It stated some of those interferences and it gave them one year in which to comply with the new rules.
The new rules, as stated then, include the following:
Members should be elected by free and fair election of the membership body, be appointed by the membership of the elected body, or be appointed from outside the membership by members of the executive body.
Government officials should not be involved in the selection of teams and coaches, etcetera, etcetera. They should not be involved in ratifications, recommendations, selections or appointments of individuals and the setting of things like the dates of matches and the outcome of disciplinary enquiries.
KHULNA, Bangladesh – Fast bowler Tino Best will miss the five One-day Internationals and the Twenty20 International on the West Indies tour of Bangladesh due to a hamstring injury.
West Indies team physiotherapist C.J. Clark described the injury as a “Grade 1 lateral hamstring strain”, which Best suffered on the first day of the second Test at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium here.
“. . .Though being able to bowl in the second innings with pain-killing injections, he will need to return home to Barbados for ongoing treatment and rehabilitation,” said Clark.
“It is expected that he will be back to full fitness for the Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament in January.”
Jason Holder, a 6-ft, 4-in tall, loose-limbed fast bowler, has been selected to replace his compatriot. He is expected to leave the Caribbean on Sunday and arrive here on Monday.
Best was West Indies’ most successful bowler in the two-Test series against the Bangladeshis which ended on Sunday. He grabbed 12 wickets at a miserly series-best average of 14.33. His economy rate of 2.98 runs an over and strike rate of 28.8 balls per wicket were also series bests.
He took 5-24 in the second innings of the first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka and followed up with 6-40 in the second innings of the second Test of the two-Test series at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium here.
“It is unfortunate that Tino will be leaving, after he came back and bowled so well in the second innings of this game,” said West Indies coach Ottis Gibson.
“His performance in the Test series shows that he is in form, so we will be missing an in-form bowler.”
Gibson added: “With the injury that he has sustained and the high intensity of the limited-overs format, it means that it’s too big a risk to take, so he will return home, get his rehab done, and get himself fully fit again.
“There is a lot of cricket coming up next year and it will be important for us that he gets himself ready for that cricket.”
The 21-year-old Holder becomes the fourth player that was part of the inaugural squad at the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre to join the limited-overs squad for the upcoming series.
He joins opener Kieran Powell, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and wicketkeeper Devon Thomas.
The highly-regarded Holder is also a former West Indies Under-19 player and has been playing at the senior domestic level for the last three years.
“The selectors have started this policy of looking at giving some of our young players an opportunity at international level to see what they can do,” said Gibson.
“Jason has done very well with the A-Team, so it’s a good opportunity for him to come here and get into the environment to see what it is like, and experience the work ethic required to be successful at this level.
“As a team, we have had a lot of success this year and he gets to share in what is becoming a successful West Indies team.”
A hurt hamstring could not stop the effervescent Tino Best from bettering his previous best performance in Test cricket in successive games. Best took three of the last four Bangladesh wickets as West Indies sealed a 2-0 series win before lunch on the final morning.
Nasir Hossain made sure Bangladesh avoided an innings defeat, but failed again to get his maiden Test hundred, after having missed it by four runs in Mirpur.
Shakib Al Hasan's suicidal charge in the last over on day four had crippled Bangladesh's chances of somehow salvaging a draw, and West Indies needed just 14 overs today to wrap up the innings.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board today announced that there will be a total of 48 matches in the WICB Regional 4 Day and Super50 tournaments in the 2013 season.
The season will commence on February 7th with three Super50 matches in Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia. The 4 Day matches will commence on February 9th and run through to February 12th.
Barbados will host reigning double champions Jamaica (winner of both the 4 Day and Super50 in 2012) at Kensington Oval; Guyana will travel to the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds in Antigua to play Leeward Islands and Windward Islands will take on Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Beausejour Cricket Grounds.
Trinidad and Tobago has gotten the bye for the first round.
Kensington Oval in Barbados will host the semi finals and final of the Super 50 in April.
The two teams with the most number of points after the preliminary rounds of the 4 Day will host the semi final matches while the final will be hosted by the team in the final with the highest number of points after the preliminary rounds.
The teams will compete for the Clive Lloyd Trophy in the Super50 and the Headley/Weekes Trophy in the Regional 4 Day. Jamaica has achieved the unparalleled feat of having won the Headley/Weekes Trophy for the last five consecutive seasons.
