WICB defends why T20 team not honoured

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday sent out a press release defending the decision not to honour the regional players who won the International Cricket Council T20 World title in Sri Lanka last year.

The T&T Guardian in an exclusive story, yesterday, reported that the players were not given anything after winning the prestigious title, while the women cricketers were bestowed with prizes for their second place finish at the ICC 50-overs World Cup in India earlier this year.

The release quoted parts of a speech given by the WICB president Dr Julian Hunte at a function to honour the West Indies Women’s Team in Barbados following their return from Sri Lanka.

According to the release, Hunte has asked that special attention be paid to the following remarks which were made in closing: “In closing, I wish to assure the West Indies Men’s Team that this “welcome home” reception is now institutionalised and as such applies to them equally. “Unfortunately, it was not possible to do this after winning the World Twenty-Twenty Championship as the players went off in different directions around the world from Sri Lanka; however, I was pleased to have been in Sri Lanka as I was able to host a celebratory function for the team on the night of the win.”