Clive Lloyd the Alex Ferguson of West Indies Cricket
Is the WICB guilty of discrimination?
31 December 2014
On December 24, 2014, Dave Cameron, the president of the WICB, commented for the press of Jason Holder, the new One-Day International captain, with the words, “I do not pick the team,” having given Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy a sour orange as their Christmas gift by excluding them from the ODI team for South Africa, in addition to removing Bravo as captain of the team (Sammy was subsequently recalled to the ODI team).
I have the same problem with this as I had with the previous CEO, Dr “Hilarious”, when Chris Gayle was excluded from the team and he hid behind the selection committee. There was no attempt by the president at the time to correct the situation. As a member of the Constitutional Committee ably chaired by Mr Alloy Lequay of Trinidad, I am saddened by the fact that the board and management staff seem to pay so little attention to the WICB constitution in carrying out their duties. I wonder if the board members have even read through the constitution.
No one, whether the president, vice-president, the CEO, the selectors or the board members, either individually or collectively, have the power to exercise any disciplinary action against the players, and are obliged to use the process prescribed in the constitution, of referring all matters of player discipline to the Disciplinary Committee appointed by the board. This process has long existed and is designed to protect the players from any arbitrary action against them for perceived breaches. The case of Mr Bravo is very pertinent because his omission cannot be because he has failed to perform on the field. This can be said of all three players in relation to ODI matches. This is a clear case of discrimination and I can only conclude that the strike in India is the matter they are being disciplined about.
Many questions come to mind over this and other worrying matters around the board — its lack of respect for the constitution, and it seems to grow worse with each passing month. I would like the president as chairman of the board and the person responsible to answer the following questions on the Bravo affair and some other matters related to the constitution:-
1. Did he give any instructions or have any conversation with Mr Lloyd as the chairman of the selection committee or with any of its members not to select Mr Dwayne Bravo for the ODI games in South Africa?
2. Were any discussions arranged through the CEO on the subject of selection for South Africa for the ODI games?
3. If the answer to 1 and 2 above is in the negative, can he ask Mr Lloyd to explain the basis of the omission?
4. Do you agree that an unsatisfactory answer to questions 1, 2 and 3 above leaves me in a position to, along with the public, conclude that Mr Lloyd does not know the limitations on his authority?
5. In arriving at the unanimous decision, did the Board ask if Mr Bravo was considered and if not, why not? Did you ask Mr Lloyd why not?
6. Why have you not referred any perceived breaches of discipline during the recent Indian tour to the Disciplinary Committee of the Board?
7. Is it that the players were justified in their action as suggested by both Prime Minister Gonzales and Mr Michael Holding, who was present in India at the time of the incident?
8. If none of the issues are referred to the Disciplinary Committee, would you agree that the exclusion of any player from that team without a hearing is discrimination against the player?
9. I am advised that you resigned from your job and you are fully engaged with the WICB and I ask if you are aware that that there is no provision in the constitution for an executive president?
10. If you are currently paid by the board as an executive president, are you aware that those payments are ultra vires because they are not provided for in the constitution and may have to be refunded?
11. What does the board pay you in respect of your duties as chairman and for what you do on behalf of the board?
A clarification of the above issues would go a long way to enabling me to decide if president Cameron should do the honourable thing and resign, and make way for a new president who does not carry all the Cameron baggage forward with him.
Barbados Underground 
Thanks to DeeWord for bring this article to BU’s attention
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One big happy, dysfunctional BU family, David. LOL Glad that you found the article informative.
Remember the followup you promised re points 9 and 10 above.
Pat Rosseau is an attorney (if I recall correctly) and surely as a past Pres. of WICB he should know the rules of that organization as well as any. I await the pronouncements from WICB on those points and the others too.
Persons like Conde Riley, Deighton Smith, of course Pres. Garner and other ‘enlightened’, vociferous members of the BCA hierarchy should be able to seek or provide answers on these governance issues.
As I have said before it’s up to the local organizations to agitate for change IF THEY REALLY WANT ANY.
The Alex Ferguson of WI cricket. Heady comparison. Funny that Ferguson’s on-field PLAYING success pales in comparison to Lloyd’s and vice-versa.
But yep, surely they are the McGuffies of their sport/team in their generation in their countries.
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@DeeWord
Have not forgotten but note the article published on BU was published immediately to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a number of other social platforms. Also many will read the substantive article.
BU believes Lloyd was close to the discussion in India and has a good idea who are right for the team he wants to build.
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@David January 17, 2015 at 10:16 AM #….
Ok, great.
“BU believes Lloyd was close to the discussion in India and has a good idea who are right for the team he wants to build.”……..
Absolutely David. He certainly was and did.
I like Lloyd as a person and accept that he is not a vindictive person as he commented re this matter. But I also see him as a man who expects to be listened too when he imparts ‘solid advice’ and acts decisively when he feels really aggrieved.
He has clearly said that he spoke (extensively, maybe) to the fellas in India and cautioned them against their strike action by clearly explaining consequences, how they should handle it etc, etc.
So, sir I completely agree with you. After his captain did not show the judgement to take his counsel, Lloyd – as any self-respecting CEO or Head of Business would have – determined that Bravo was not the man to lead the men into battle.
On the flip side of that, his remarks re Holder are glowing. He speaks of a lad who listens, is intelligent, who he has been around since his under 19 days etc, etc.
As diplomatically as anyone has every done Clive Lloyd has clearly stated by his actions that Bravo is an uninformed, self serving, mediocre cricketer and after he undermined the team’s plans with such myopic vision in India it makes little sense to continue with him in the team leading into the World Cup. BUT, (contracted) he still has something left so let’s see if he rehabilitates over this coming year.
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@DeeWord
Correct and he must be congratulated for making the hard and decision sensible decisions if not popular. What is absolutely amazing is the ignorant cricket commentators littering the region who continue to shape their narratives based on old and irrelevant theses often fashioned by informal relationships.
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Oh, btw. Yesterday I caught a moment of pure unfiltered awe from Lloyd. He was holding court during the rain delay about past World Cups. And they were dissecting his 102 in the Final. Bob Willis makes a wry remark re Lloyd’s hook of Dennis Lillee for six saying in jest that the ball was slow.
Everyone laughs.
Willis continues and talks about the WI being blown away on that ’75-76 tour in Australia and the moderator jumps in with yea, there was Thompson and Lillee.
Lloyd simple said…”Thompson, wooooa!”
Priceless. That simple comment said it ALL.
Beyond a doubt , with all that we know and saw and despite Freddo’s blazing century at Perth (was it) Jeff Thompson can say he put the fear of the Lord into the minds of men who went on to be some of the greatest of their generation.
Wooooa!
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I must agree with the comments made by the two gentlemen above.
Lloyd certainly knows what he is doing. However, I suspect that the contemporary generation is not as responsive to logic or reality.
We could have won the game again yesterday. It required again just 7 runs more per partnership.
Something is lacking from these men. Lloyd’s team played the usual calypso cricket, but coupled to this was grit and determination. These two characteristics seem lacking from the current team.
I was impressed with Holder’s post match speech. I thought that his comment on Gayle’s batting was diplomatic.
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The weight of Pat Rosseau’s exposition is so heavy that any reasonable person could be forgiven if the media across the region would have rushed to dissect and analyse and foisted its findings on a cricket loving public at heart. Instead we have the same old uninformed sensationalistic and nonsensical offerings.
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Why did the WICB send cricketers on the tour of India without signed contracts stating exactly how much each player was going to be paid?
If a player was not willing to sign a contract for an agreed fee for the tour then he should have been left out of the tour.
With all the modern tools available today why did this mismanagement occur? Is management of West Indies cricket done by volunteers or paid qualified professionals?
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@Hants
Let’s reformat your question to answer.
Why did the players union allow the team to start a tour without signed contracts?
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Starting a Tour without Contracts is a time honored tradition–only in the Caribbean, however.
Cricket mirrors West Indian Society. You see the same level of disorganization and folly in both.
From 1995 , West Indies have been doing all sorts of nonsense under the pretext of improving West Indies Cricket and every President and Board member come with their own agendae. Do we have to Bring back expatriates to administer cricket in the West Indies ?
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@ DeeWord January 17, 2015 at 9:59 AM #
Is this the same Pat Rosseau that used the predisency of the WICB to enrich himself. Did the WICB constitution state that he should have used his position to gain insider information to be a partner in a sports TV channel rather than build the infrastructure for the future of W.I. cricket?
Give me some positives that took place during the time he was Pres. of the WICB and I might consider giving thought to something he has to say.
The problem with W.I. cricket during the past 2 decades was making mediocre players indispensable. There are very few, if any players, in the region that should be considered certainties for selection, and the idea that Dwayne Bravo and Pollard wer likely to make a difference to the performance of the team in WC 2015 is laughable.
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Ok David,
Why did the players union, the WICB and its management allow the team to start a tour without signed contracts?
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@Hants
They are incompetent, greedy and in it together.
@Bajan in NY
Why don’t you stop playing the man and comment on the issues raised?
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@ Hants
Brass bowls…??? 🙂
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Correct Bushie.
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@ Hants January 17, 2015 at 1:30 PM # et al…Why did the players union, the WICB and its management allow the team to start a tour without signed contracts?——————-
Peoples, don’t mek me laugh do. Yes, we can call this brass-bowlerly (BushTea) or incompetence (David) but are you folks trying to suggest that this is suck a strange practice.
I agree, it is NOT a BEST PRACTICE but a version of it happens every (repeat EVERY) day in the corporate world.
How many unions in Canada are right now working on some ‘extension’ of a previous contract as a new one is being hammered out? Must be at least one or two I expect.
In NY the PBA is working towards a new contract. Not sure that the old one is expired but if it did they would proceed and expect to back date salary increases or whatever when the new one started.
My point is simple, let’s call a spade a spade. There was absolutely no need for this o blow up in the public as it did. That is what makes all of members of Bushie’s ‘Brass Bowl Hall of Fame’ in my view.
But leaving without the signed contract is certainly not grounds by itself for a Brass Bowl.
BTW David, I’m sure someone must have mentioned this before but you really need to ask Bushie to allow you to patent that term and start an annual Brass Bowl Awards, a la Oscars or rather the Razzies.
Votes in various maybe 5 categories on most ‘popular’ malfeasance etc of the year.
One of those categories should be the most hypocritical (sorry controversial) commenter cause I got my vote already lined up for that one. LOLLLLL.
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@DeeWord
Have a look at what satire has done to France. BU prefers to encourage comments focussed on things away from commenters.
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@David January 17, 2015 at 1:55 PM #@Bajan in NY…..Why don’t you stop playing the man and comment on the issues raised?———————
Yesterday we had ‘a play the man chat’ where I told you playing both is important so it’s funny that today I gotta agree wid ya that in this case what Pat Rosseau did is not relevant to the valid points he has raised.
And @Bajan in NY, I can’t speak to the enrich accusation but I would agree that Rosseau’s term as President was as tumultuous as most and frankly it can be argued that it was the precursor to the current state of affairs.
He was the President who drove the incorporation of the WICB, it was him who called out the levels of ‘intelligence’ and ‘readiness’ of the players and more. Yes, indeed.
But yes he is also the man who is raising valid points on the governance of the WICB of which I have heard no one else discuss.
So as David says, in this case play the subject matter foremost and deal with Rosseau’s intentions another time.
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@David January 17, 2015 at 2:57 PM #…Have a look at what satire has done to France. BU prefers to encourage comments focused on things away from commenters.————–
Stress not Dave. The idea of the awards re the commenters was my laugh for the day as I would not expect you to razz your own client base.
Although one can argue that every commenter here is a bit of a ‘primo don’ or ‘prima donna’ so getting a the ‘Most Controversial Brass Bowl’ as voted by peers would likely enhance an already inflated self-worth
And the other side of that award thing; that has legs I think. Would be good fun for your team and commenters.
Just a thought good sir.
Btw, …..BU is no way as controversial as that rather irreverent and non-decorous Charlie Hebdo. No need to worry on that front.
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The West Indies is being slaughtered by South Africa in the 2nd ODI,carnage.
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The defeat today would appear to be a failure of the bowling. Or is it a team morale issue with players being dropped from the ODI team for OBVIOUSLY disciplinary reasons despite what Selector Lloyd is saying?
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I cannot argue for the automatic selection of either Bravo or Pollard, and if they were, as I always thought, the myopic ringleaders of that fiasco in India they deserve to be excluded from the team. What I can argue is that the WICB and its president must bear some of the responsibility as well as Wavell Hinds as their dismissive responses to the players’ outcry precipitated the pullout.
The issue as I see it is that of the credibility of the WICB and this has taken a beating since the assurance of no victimization has been breached. This will further damage the relationship between the Board and the players and hence the counterproductive antagonistic nature of things is perpetuated.
Though the inclusion of Bravo and Pollard would probably not have made any difference in the results, their exclusion probably will. By that I mean that team morale will suffer, relationships will suffer and the net effect will be detrimental to WIndies cricket. There was nobody breaking down the door to enter the Windies team and so it would have been more expedient to give them a few more games and then drop them for continued poor performances. Then justice would not only have been done but would also have been seen to be done. As it is, nothing has changed for the better and something has probably changed for the worse – the credibility of the WICB and that of a Caribbean treasure like Clive Lloyd.
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