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Anybody with a shred of objectivity must now be seeing the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for what it is: a body that keeps free-falling from one blunder to another.
No matter how sympathetic one is to the WICB, one can't help but realise that the board seems incapable of not only running the affairs of cricket in the region with any degree of efficiency, but is becoming bolder in its penchant for firing off nonsensical statements.
This latest round of controversy demonstrates the point perfectly.
Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said, at the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) awards dinner last weekend, that she wanted to see a quick resolution to the stand-off between sidelined batting maestro Chris Gayle and the WICB. She said, "Justice delayed is justice denied," and that the matter was too important "to be left down the wicket".
I have read her quotations on the subject carefully, and there was nothing to suggest she was blaming the board for the Gayle dispute. The prime minister then also voiced her disappointment that we wouldn't be getting any games at Sabina Park when the Australians are here.
The WICB then had the effrontery to launch a broadside against the Jamaican prime minister, saying, among other things, that she wasn't properly informed. Why anybody would need to be "informed" to say he/she wanted a resolution is beyond me.
The JCA has been on record expressing regret, even dis-pleasure, that Jamaica was not getting a game at Sabina when the Australians visit. That is open knowledge.
Pm AWAREness, weather claims
The prime minister is clearly aware of this. What other information does she need for her to express her disappointment?
The WICB retort is subtly suggesting that the JCA didn't do a good job of briefing the prime minister. Which other entity could the board be pointing to?
The JCA then came out firing, as it had to, defending the prime minister and then saying the JCA had the same concerns as the Jamaican PM on the Gayle row, and Sabina's exclusion from the Australian tour. The JCA has awakened from its slumber, asking the WICB to retract the statements! How that phrase seems destined to be with us! This West Indies board then had the gall to tell us all that Jamaica did not get a game for the Australia tour because of "weather and scheduling" reasons. What absolute nonsense! The Australians will be here in March and April, a time when more than half of the Sabina Park Test matches have been staged!
Does the WICB expect right-minded people to believe that? This is the same board that keeps scheduling games in Guyana - not just Test matches, but regional competitions - and invariably weather plays some part.
This business about weather preventing us from getting a game in the Australia series doesn't wash. It is clearly more than that, and then one is left only to speculate on the real basis for the decision.
You then juxtapose this with the WICB giving Darren Sammy time off for the Jamaica leg of the first-class tournament, and you can't help but wonder if a pattern is evolving.
New Zealand tour
The WICB, in its response to the prime minister's statements, said Jamaica will definitely host a game in the New Zealand tour during July and August. The WICB accused our prime minister of not being informed, but any informed board would know that it is far more likely for weather to affect a test match in Jamaica in July and August than in March or April.
That is bad enough, but then, according to the JCA, the local body wasn't even officially informed about the Jamaicans getting a game, until that release where the WICB was responding to the Jamaican PM!
This is too much now. How much incompetence should we take from this lot? How much longer should we watch the WICB fiddling while West Indies cricket burns?
No matter how sympathetic one is to the WICB, one can't help but realise that the board seems incapable of not only running the affairs of cricket in the region with any degree of efficiency, but is becoming bolder in its penchant for firing off nonsensical statements.
This latest round of controversy demonstrates the point perfectly.
Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said, at the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) awards dinner last weekend, that she wanted to see a quick resolution to the stand-off between sidelined batting maestro Chris Gayle and the WICB. She said, "Justice delayed is justice denied," and that the matter was too important "to be left down the wicket".
I have read her quotations on the subject carefully, and there was nothing to suggest she was blaming the board for the Gayle dispute. The prime minister then also voiced her disappointment that we wouldn't be getting any games at Sabina Park when the Australians are here.
The WICB then had the effrontery to launch a broadside against the Jamaican prime minister, saying, among other things, that she wasn't properly informed. Why anybody would need to be "informed" to say he/she wanted a resolution is beyond me.
The JCA has been on record expressing regret, even dis-pleasure, that Jamaica was not getting a game at Sabina when the Australians visit. That is open knowledge.
Pm AWAREness, weather claims
The prime minister is clearly aware of this. What other information does she need for her to express her disappointment?
The WICB retort is subtly suggesting that the JCA didn't do a good job of briefing the prime minister. Which other entity could the board be pointing to?
The JCA then came out firing, as it had to, defending the prime minister and then saying the JCA had the same concerns as the Jamaican PM on the Gayle row, and Sabina's exclusion from the Australian tour. The JCA has awakened from its slumber, asking the WICB to retract the statements! How that phrase seems destined to be with us! This West Indies board then had the gall to tell us all that Jamaica did not get a game for the Australia tour because of "weather and scheduling" reasons. What absolute nonsense! The Australians will be here in March and April, a time when more than half of the Sabina Park Test matches have been staged!
Does the WICB expect right-minded people to believe that? This is the same board that keeps scheduling games in Guyana - not just Test matches, but regional competitions - and invariably weather plays some part.
This business about weather preventing us from getting a game in the Australia series doesn't wash. It is clearly more than that, and then one is left only to speculate on the real basis for the decision.
You then juxtapose this with the WICB giving Darren Sammy time off for the Jamaica leg of the first-class tournament, and you can't help but wonder if a pattern is evolving.
New Zealand tour
The WICB, in its response to the prime minister's statements, said Jamaica will definitely host a game in the New Zealand tour during July and August. The WICB accused our prime minister of not being informed, but any informed board would know that it is far more likely for weather to affect a test match in Jamaica in July and August than in March or April.
That is bad enough, but then, according to the JCA, the local body wasn't even officially informed about the Jamaicans getting a game, until that release where the WICB was responding to the Jamaican PM!
This is too much now. How much incompetence should we take from this lot? How much longer should we watch the WICB fiddling while West Indies cricket burns?
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