The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has called an emergency press conference at the Accra Hotel this afternoon, to make an announcement on the future of veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The meeting comes as speculations continue to swirl over whether the 40-year-old Guyanese middle order batsman will retire before the upcoming Australian tour of the West Indies which begins next month.
However, reports have suggested the meeting is not to announce Chanderpaul’s retirement.
Ironically, just two days ago during a WICB town-hall meeting at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, the WICB was accused of not properly treating retired players.
In his reply, WICB vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan admitted that the regional body had failed to properly address the issue of retiring players, especially those who had given years of service to the West Indies.
“We agree that in the West Indies we have had problems and issues in terms of dealing with players when they retire. We have fallen very short in that aspect…
“We have been short and we have been deficient in that area. It’s something we have been discussing and something we are looking forward to improving very much so because we believe the players are the essence of our cricket,” Nanthan conceded.
“I’m sure if you were to go back through the years and name them one by one you would actually be able to write a book that would be very interesting, and would have the readers on edge.”
Nanthan insisted it was only fair that after cricketers had devoted their life to both country and region, a fitting sendoff was the very least the WICB could afford to do.
“If a man or a lady gives up years of their life to entertaining and trying to aspire for all of us, when they do so we all celebrate in their achievements and we are all very proud of them.
“And sometimes at the end of his or her days, they go home, sometimes to nothing, and sometimes having to give up all that they do and it can be very lonely all there,” he noted.
“But we are hoping as a Board and as collective Caribbean people, we can respect and appreciate the service of those who have served us as a region…because the better we can do that, the more a player can contribute to the upliftment and development of the game after his or her time on the field has come to and end.”
