MINISTER OF SPORT Stephen Lashley has offered to help the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) tackle its latest crisis – the collapse of the Indian tour.
Addressing the House of Assembly on Tuesday on a tourism-related matter, he said he was concerned about the state of West Indian cricket and wanted to help the search for a solution in any way he could.
He urged all parties in the conflict to take a step back from any entrenched positions and let level-headedness and common sense prevail.
“Cricket must not be compromised” and West Indies cricket “must be returned to a state of normalcy” in the shortest time possible, Lashley said.
Lashley was responding to comments made by Opposition Member Gline Clarke about the need for Government to state its position on the tour collapse.
He said that while Government did not manage cricket, it was important that both the WICB and its players moved with swiftness to ensure calmness can return to the state of West Indies cricket.
The tour of India was abandoned last week in the midst of a pay dispute with the regional players. The Board blamed the players for the early end to the tour and in a statement said its “proposed alternative arrangement of a replacement West Indies team was not considered acceptable”.
The tour ended on Friday even though a fifth one-day international, a Twenty20 match and three Tests were still to be played.
The WICB held an emergency board meeting in Barbados on Tuesday, to “conduct a thorough assessment of all the ramifications of the premature end to the tour”.
Meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said it would begin legal proceedings against the WICB because of the cancellation of tour. It has also suspended all bilateral tours between the two sides, according to Press reports. (TY)
