(Trinidad Guardian) The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) report of the findings from the alleged interference in the selection process for the West Indies team is in and it reveals that president Dave Cameron and vice president Emmanual Nanton spoke without approval of the board of directors on the Shivnarine Chanderpaul issue.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons made public statements that there was outside interference in the selection of the West Indies cricket team and the WICB decided to look into the matter.
Yesterday, the board sent out a press release which stated the report of the findings from the “alleged interference” in the selection process for the senior men’s team was in and the report features a seven-point recommendation going forward.
According to the release interviews were conducted with nine West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) personnel and the three cases which were under scrutiny was one home Test series against Australia; one away one-day international series against Zimbabwe (which was cancelled) and the away ODI series against Sri Lanka…all in 2015.
The findings stated that the actions of the President and Vice President to support the selection of Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the home series in May last year, were personal statements and were done without approval of the Board of Directors. The other findings reported support the roles of the Director of Cricket and the Selectors and that they were following the existing selection policies and guidelines.
The seven-point recommendations spoke to a number of areas for improvement to include but not limited to:
• Providing mediation for the Selection Panel
• Clearly defined roles for the team and individuals separately
• Refining of policies on selection
• Advising the public on selection criteria
• A closer look at performance standards
• An update to the terms of reference for the Selection Committee
The report which was conducted by Human Resource Specialist, Colin Barnett, was presented to the Executive Team and will be used as a guide going forward. The report is also an agenda item for the Board of Directors regular quarterly meeting, set for March in Antigua. Barnett also sits on the WICB’s HR Committee.
The next major international assignment for the WICB is the men’s and women’s ICC World Twenty20 Tournament in India from March 8 – April 3. The women’s squad which is currently in camp in Barbados will go to South Africa before going on to India, while the men’s team will participate in a camp in Dubai later this month.
Simmons made his comments based on the fact that senior players Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard were continually being overlooked for selection and he wanted his best team to face the opposition.
