Disentangling the continuing conflict between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association is a necessary and very challenging assignment for a group of Caricom leaders, themselves stricken by unending underachievement within their own integration movement. Nevertheless it is a task given by the Caricom Heads of Government meeting of the last weekend to a grouping amongst themselves to pursue. The immediate assignment is to bring some form of peace between the two associations, with the overheated conflict between the board and Chris Gayle a major point for resolution.
Guyana's President Bharath Jagdeo was particularly compelling in his reasoning that the culture of conflict has to end.President Jagdeo could not be more correct. Clearly egos on both sides have been severely bruised. That statements coming from both sides severely condemnatory of the other have poisoned the atmosphere between the two is without doubt. Moreover, that the kind of conflict that exists has been so for more than a decade. Undoubtedly, commercial rights involving players and the board, the reality of Twenty20 cricket paying sums of money to players which could never be even contemplated in the Test arena are taking prominence in the conflicts. Understandably, too, players with a short shelf-life and the examples to inform them of generations of WI players who have given their all to the game and have had to live without much to show for their effort and skills influence the modern player to press for all he is worth.
Nonetheless, the reality on the other side is that the board through decisions taken today is responsible to many generations of players yet born and, very significantly, to the people of the West Indies who have made their most significant statements as a people on the field of cricket. Often in the heated exchange of words, in the attitude of wrangling amongst board, players and their associations, cricket, its past, present and future, in the West Indies is forgotten. This requirement of involvement by Caricom and governments of the Caribbean in cricket affairs of the regional team is not new. Island-nation politics in WI cricket goes back to the era when a team was selected on the basis of where the next Test match would be played and the nationality of the selectors. In the world of the 21st century, management expertise and policies, the sociology of cricket, quality and sensitive treatment of players in their relations with the board and the West Indian people have become vital.
It is also not the first time that political figures have been involved in unravelling the troubles surrounding WI cricket. Prime Ministers and ex-Prime Ministers of Barbados, Grenada, T&T and Jamaica have been called in to solve problems. That the two bodies have not been able to resolve conflict is reason enough for the heads of government of the community to mandate a group of leaders to interact with the players' association and the board.The West Indian public awaits resolution.
However, while this kind of involvement has the potential to solve problems, its very existence as a mechanism will cause difficulties down the road. This is so because the governing International Cricket Council announced recently that it is giving its members two years to get their governments out of their affairs.
Therefore, there is but a short window of opportunity for a prime ministerial team to interact with the board in the interest of West Indies cricket.What is needed now is for the mandate for interactions between the board and the players' association to be widened to include the institution building requirements to salvage WI cricket from permanent decline.