(Jamaica Observer) Lawyers representing former West Indies batting stylist Lawrence Rowe have initiated legal action against the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) for withdrawing the naming of the Players’ Pavilion at Sabina Park in his honour.
The Lawrence Rowe Players’ Pavilion was unveiled in June, but last month the JCA rescinded the recognition and cited controversial comments that the retired right-hander made in an interview.
JCA president Lyndel Wright confirmed to the Observer that the local cricket body recently received correspondence from Rowe’s legal team.
“We received written notification from his lawyers on Monday of this week. It is now a legal matter and we will engage our lawyers,” he said via telephone on Wednesday.
Wright, a former Jamaica all-rounder, declined further comment on the issue, but the Observer understands that Rowe is seeking a re-instatement of the honour.
Rowe represented the region in 30 Test matches between 1972 and 1980 and averaged 43.55 with the bat, scoring seven centuries and seven half- centuries.
He made 214 and 100 not out in his Test debut against New Zealand at Sabina — a feat which remains a world record.
However, he disregarded an international restriction on sporting activity in apartheid-ruled South Africa and led two West Indies’ rebel tours to that country in the early 1980s. He and others on those tours were banned from cricket.
The suspensions were lifted in 1989 with the release from prison of the iconic Nelson Mandela in a rapid movement to dismantle the system of apartheid and to establish democracy in that country.
