Tony Cozier

Ramnaresh Sarwan’s perplexing position in the leadership of the West Indies team took another, probably, final twist yesterday.

THERE would have been a special poignancy to the shocking images from Mumbai during the week for every cricketer – and, to be personal, every cricket journalist – who has ever toured India.

Quantity over quality John Dyson was on to a familiar refrain during the week.

There are any number of instances of the muddled thinking that presently pervades West Indies cricket.

A picture, as the maxim goes, is worth a thousand words.

Preparation was the key IT was a cushy way to pocket a million bucks – or two, or six, or 200, depending on the location of your bank account.

Reverend Wes Hall said yesterday he was “astonished and saddened” by the level of personal invective directed at him by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in a statement on Sunday, especially since it was based on false information.

The already strained relations between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Stanford 20/20 organisation neared breaking point last night after a verbal broadside by the WICB on both Wes Hall, a Stanford 20/20 director and a one-time WICB president, and the Stanford group itself.

The  instant Sir Allen Stanford touched down on the hallowed turf at Lord’s in June in that black helicopter with his name emblazoned on the side, revealed his treasure chest filled with US$20 million in bank notes and condemned Test matches as “boring”, the British media saw it as its patriotic duty to wreck any association  between him and their cricket.

As the powerful storm surge of 20/20 cricket continues to threaten all in its path, events in Mohali last week came as a timely intervention for the traditional game.

– WICB sets new standards for team selection Selection to the West Indies team will be based in future primarily on stringent statistical standards presently well beyond the capacity of all but a couple of players.

The London International Court of Arbitration (LICA) has made its ruling.

Just  what is it with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)?

-20/20 for US$20M to go ahead Sir Allen Stanford’s massive financial involvement in 20/20 cricket, seemingly in doubt only a day earlier, became entrenched yesterday.

– A trans-Atlantic telephone conversation between Sir Allen Stanford and  Denis O’Brien has paved the way for the 20/20 for US20m to go ahead A “COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT”, reportedly finalised after a trans-Atlantic telephone conversation between Sir Allen Stanford and Denis O’Brien, head of Irish mobile phone company Digicel, sponsors of West Indies cricket, has opened the way for the 20/20 for US$20 million match between the Stanford Superstars and England to go ahead.

Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) are this morning considering the ramifiactions of yesterday’s judgement of the London Court of International Arbitration (LICA) in favour of its main sponsor, Digicel, that has thrown into doubt its officially approved, US$20 million match between the Stanford Superstars and England, scheduled in Antigua on November 1.

– Former WICB corporate secretary Tony Deyal gives evidence before London International Court of Arbitration on behalf of DIgicel In an ironic twist to the latest row afflicting West Indies cricket, Tony Deyal has given evidence before the London International Court of Arbitration (LICA) on behalf of Digicel in its case against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over the scheduled 20/20 match for US$20 million between the Stanford Superstars and England.

At last a few snippets of encouraging news for West Indies cricket to counter, at least partially, the ever present gloom and doom.

– Tony Cozier says the WICB often seen to be promoting one scrap or another, now finds itself like legendary boxing promoter Don King, smack in the middle of a heavyweight clash between Digicel and the Stanford 20/20 organisation Unconsciously, but consistently and under whatever dispensation, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has become as adept at fight promotion as Don King.

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Donald Peters got himself into something of a twist over the widely reported secret last week that Xavier Marshall and Tonito Willett had failed a drugs test at a Stanford 20/20 camp.