In The Papers Today (Oct 12, 2005)
Wed, Oct 12, '05
(Teddy Griffith returns to the World Cup board of directors;
Hard questions are asked of Allen Stanford; Lequay continues to
shoot from the lip, all in today's news round-up...)
The Stanford 20/20 tournament remains a source of commentary fodder but the kissy-kissy hug fest is abating and, finally, someone has started asking some interesting questions.
, in a syndicated column appearing in several Caribbean papers, digs into the Texan tycoon's controversial investments -- and back-scratching business strategies -- in Antigua and makes the case that there's more at stake for the expansion of the "Stanford empire."
"But is this American tycoon, whose dominant investments and influence in Antigua remain a source of controversy, really out to "revolutionise" West Indies cricket, or is he on a new market blitz, on behalf of the "Stanford empire", reputedly worth some US$21 billion with multiple business interests in approximately 79 countries?" Singh asks.
Austin 'Jack' Warner has also criticised the proposed move by Stanford, calling it the "biggest mistake" to try to rebuild West Indies cricket from the top.
Warner's point is well made but Media Watch wonders whether he has any credibility left to be taken seriously.
Alloy Lequay is on a roll. One day after criticising the West Indies selectors for picking Dwayne Smith over Daren Ganga in the squad for Australia, allegedly for "non-cricketing reasons," the T&T cricket elder is lashing out again, this time at national coach David Williams.
The Trinidad Express republishes a press release from Lequay that ripped into Williams for "making excuses" for the team's poor showing in this year's KFC Cup.
"The coach must stop making excuses for failure and point fingers at administrators, and analyse the real reason for poor performance. The buck stops with him," Lequay said.
The Trinidad Guardian celebrates the news that Brian Lara was one of the players chosen as part of the ICC 'Test Team of the Year' but did not find the time to write an independent story.
The Guardian's cricket writers must be on vacation. Of the four cricket-related stories in today's paper, three were pulled from the CMC newswire.The fourth is a story about the acting principal of Jordan Hill Presbyterian School being elected president of the Atlantic LNG National Primary School Cricket League. Whatever that is.
The Stabroek News also has a bout of CMC-itis today. Although the KFC Cup semi-finals are being hosted in Guyana, the newspaper has not seen it fit to offer an independent preview of the matches.
The CMC preview of the Guyana/Leewards game is the Stabroek News' top sports story while the news of the new Cricket World Cup 2007 board of directors is also taken from the newswire.
The World Cup board news makes news in every newspaper but no one appears to notice the inclusion of former WICB president Teddy Griffith on the revamped board of directors.
Didn't he just quit to spend more quality time with the family? Does the CWC 2007 board really need Griffith's baggage coming so soon after the Lucky Report exposed his poor corporate governance?
The Guyana Chronicle whips the Stabroek News today with an Allan La Rose piece that includes interviews with Guyana skipper Shiv Chanderpaul and Leewards captain Sylvester Joseph.
"The hard Bourda outfield is expected to be lightning fast and the pitch, as usual, is anticipated to be full of runs. While the home side continue to be the tournament favourites, their opposition possess worthy talent that will set the stage for an entertaining day of cricket," La Rose writes.
The paper also carries CMC reports on Stanford's reaction to the worldwide reaction (who's left to react?); Brian Lara's comments from Australia on his poor run of form; and a Reuters piece on the ICC award winners.
The Barbados Nation sent cricket writer Haydn Gill to Guyana to cover the KFC Cup playoffs and is rewarded with a well-written piece on the preparations at Bourda for the three games.
In the article, Gill notes that there are significant efforts in Guyana to include KFC branding around the ground, unlike what happened during the preliminaries in Barbados.
It is not yet clear if the players will wear KFC-branded clothing.
The Nation also carries summaries scores for Barbados Cricket League cricket matches played over the weekend. Nice job by Christopher McCollin to collect scores from all mostly-drawn matches.
Vaneisa Baksh's "Firefly" column in the Barbados Nation points to the positive side of the Stanford 20/20 initiative and concludes that it's "simply a matter of time before his investment yields high returns."
Baksh, surprisingly, makes no mention of the issues raised by Ricky Singh (see first item above) and appears convinced that the new slog-friendly Twenty20 concept can actually help cricketers improve their game.
Baksh writes: "Stanford has demonstrated that he understands how to use money. He has argued that the game is dying and will do so without a major intervention. He has put more than money where his mouth is, introducing a sufficiently detailed plan that has convinced several that he means business."
Media Watch wonders what flavour of cool-aid was in that cup.
Media Watch has been monitoring the WICB's WindiesCricket.com Web site closely to see how long it will take to fix two errors in a single headline.
Lo and behold, the entire article has mysteriously disappeared from the site. Weird.
The Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer both rely heavily on CMC for cricket news today.
Both papers carry the Cricket World Cup 2007 board of directors revamp story.
For those keeping score, the full list of board members are: Ken Gordon (chairman), Owen Melhado (deputy chairman), Chris Dehring (managing director and chief executive officer), Val Banks, Teddy Griffith, Stephen Camacho, Allen Chastenet, Kenneth Hewitt, Ambassador Julian Hunte, Dr. Claude Denbow, Clifford Reis, Sir Royston Hopkin, Ambassador David Shoul, Ken Boyea and Jennifer Nero.
Hopkin, Shoul, Boyea and Nero are the new board members.
Newspapers in U.K. are carrying a story on the itinerary released for the England 'A' tour of the Caribbean. The England 'A' side will play two Test matches and five one-day internationals in February and March.
Matches have been scheduled for Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados.
