West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron has steered clear of trying to explain why the door has been closed on the T&T pair Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard.
The two players have been overlooked since the West Indies tour of South Africa and some pundits have remarked that they are being punished for their roles in the aborted tour of India last October. Cameron was questioned about their omission from the tour at the WICB’s final Town Hall meeting at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation Building on Friday night.
Cameron said the decision to choose players was the responsibility of the selectors and he left it there. He made it clear that a number of players who have left the West Indies Players Association (Wipa) will not be victimised, as the WICB was a separate entity from the players association.
He did, however, mention: “It is sad to see the players giving up an opportunity to have a body represent them. This does not mean that those who I am hearing left, cannot speak to the board.”
Asked if Bravo and Pollard wanted to speak to the board, Cameron asked: “For what?”
Pressed further he said that they would have to understand that there are rules of engagement that are in place.
Apart from the Bravo and Pollard issue, Cameron handled the meeting well, which at times presented him with difficult questions.
Queen’s Park manager Jeffrey Guillen asked him how come he was still president of the WICB after his role in the board accumulating a debt of US$42M. Cameron replied that whatever decision was made to deal with the aborted tour was a board decision but he took full responsibility as head of the organisation.
According to Cameron :”Looking at the India situation and what it has brought, probably it had to happen to force change in West Indies cricket. We at the WICB is now building a team and not individuals and we think this is the way to go.” One of the points of discussion over the India incident was the fact that the players went to India without signed contracts. Cameron assured all that the players have already gotten their contracts for the upcoming Sri Lankan tour, pointing to the fact that it was one of the lessons learnt.
The Jamaican added that the India situation in terms of the US$42M bill and the severing of bi-lateral tours remain at the same but there is a meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on October 10 where they are expected to deal with the matter. “We have an ICC board meeting on October 10 and we plan to deal with the matter. Hopefully when I get back to the region I would be able to report positively on the India situation because they are due to tour here next year.
Cameron used the opportunity to promote the work of the WICB and said that all sectors of the cricketing fraternity will receive assistance from the board.
Ramdin stats failed him
One of the burning questions that members of the audience put to Cameron was the axing of Denesh Ramdin as captain of the West Indies Test team. Without coming out outright and saying that Ramdin was dropped for his poor batting form, Cameron said :”Numbers are a strange thing. I always tell people that if you use the players was initials but not their own initials and pick a team on numbers you would be surprised as to what you come up with. Ramdin’s average over a period leading into his captaincy showed he was averaging 40. When you take a look at his average while as captain it is 22. So sometimes we have to take a close look at these things in an effort to get answers.
