The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is looking for more matches for the regional team this year, in an effort to boost revenue.
A source close to the WICB told the T&T Guardian that the regional team is likely to make a trip to Bangladesh later this year. This trip was not on the Future Tours Programme (FTP) but it is understood that the WICB wants to get the team over to Bangladesh after their tour of Sri Lanka in October/November. The series is expected to be short, with matches only in the limited overs and T20 formats.
President of the WICB, Dave Cameron, when contacted, did not confirm or deny this fact, saying: “The WICB is always looking for more matches for the West Indies team.”
The WICB directors will meet with Caricom cricket committee today and on the agenda is the bill of US$41.95m that is owed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the aborted tour last year.
Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell will chair the meeting, which will also be attended by Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie, the current Caricom chairman; Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, chairman of the Caricom Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket; and St Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
The BCCI has cut all bilateral relations with the WICB since that ill-fated tour and has given different deadlines along the way to get back the money. To date they have not, and the WICB has not publicly given an update on the matter.
T&T Guardian understands that at the last AGM, time ran out and the directors could not touch the finance report and hence they were not brought up to scratch with the India matter. President of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) and WICB director Azim Bassarath confirmed that they did not discuss the board’s financials at the last meeting but a meeting will be convened soon to discuss it.