When ICC elite umpire Steve Bucknor walks out on to the field in
Kolkata, India, on March 16, 2005, he will become the first umpire
ever in the history of international cricket to stand in 100 Tests.
To call him our own makes West Indians around the region extremely
proud. With his trademark lengthy deliberation before quickly
lifting the finger, the Jamaican has recently come under scrutiny
for some questionable decisions.
Undaunted, Bucknor soldiers on, always striving to learn from
his experiences and maintain the high standards for which he has
become known.
The following is the text of a WICB statement responding to
several eye-opening assertions from Cable & Wireless
regarding the sponsorship negotiations:
Over the last week, Cable and Wireless has issued a number of
statements relative to issues involving seven West Indies Players,
Cable and Wireless itself, and the West Indies Cricket Board.
After careful consideration of those statements, the West Indies
Cricket Board (WICB) would like to make the following points:
Professor Luria, a famous Russian scientist once said that human
behaviour is influenced by goals of the future but is also shaped
by history and past experiences. He added that not only does the
brain create these goals but it also subordinates all of its
activities towards achieving them. In crisis situations, our brain
chemistry is changed. Thinking often becomes negative and combative
and our span of concentration is narrowed and locked in to the
immediate. Valuable lessons from the past are then lost and once
positive visions of the future become vague and hazy.
Cable & Wireless has opened a new can of worms with the
assertion that the US$20 million/5-year sponsorship package was
never offered by the WICB.
"Cable and Wireless did, however, turn down a US$30
million/5-year proposal. The last offer C&W left on the table
with the WICB on March 31, 2004 was a US$20m/5 year proposal for
the Home Series only...The WICB instead, awarded all the
entitlements, the Home Series, away games and youth programs to
Digicel for only US$20m/5 years," the phone company said in a
statement.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is sticking to its guns,
announcing Saturday that seven leading cricketers including Brian
Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle will not be considered for
selection until their private contracts with Cable & Wireless
are properly inspected.
In the face of
increasing pressure from Caricom to select the team on
cricketing merit only, the WICB refused to back down. "In the
Board's view, the basis of discussion has to be to field the best
team in the circumstances and not the best team at all costs," the
WICB said in a statement.
