WICB in no-win situation over Narine

 

There are striking similarities in the West Indies Cricket Board’s suspension of Sunil Narine for the forthcoming home Tests against New Zealand and that of Desmond Haynes 19 years ago, prior to the 1995 series against Australia.

Both involve the players’ failure to meet a deadline for returning to the Caribbean, in Narine’s case for the squad’s preparatory training camp, in Haynes’ for all matches in the domestic first-class tournament (then the Red Stripe Cup).

Narine has chosen to remain with the Kolkata Knight Riders for today’s final of the Indian Premier League (IPL); Haynes, at the time professional with Western Province in South Africa’s Castle Cup, missed only one match, Barbados’ first.

Each pleaded his case for dispensation; each was turned down by an inflexible board which pointed out that its relevant regulation was in place for good reason and was known by both.

The WICB’s director of cricket, Richard Pybus, asserted on Friday that Narine’s ineligibility for the three New Zealand Tests was in keeping with the ‘West Indies First’ policy approved by its directors in March.

“The onus of the WICB is to protect the integrity of international cricket at all times,” he said. “International cricket, and specifically Test cricket,