CARICOM stuck to its decision to dissolve WICB

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman, prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, at a press conference held at the end of the 37th regular meeting of the conference of CARICOM heads on Wednesday evening said that “having discussed cricket, a new prime ministerial sub-committee will be created.”

“There were two before; one on governance issues and one of the larger issues confronting cricket. This is a new committee on cricket mandated to examine all matters relating to the development of cricket which is a very wide area of concentration,” Skerrit added.

The WICB received support from its president Dave Cameron, and the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister Gaston Browne, who broke ranks with CARICOM. “That (recommendation to dissolve) is a recipe for chaos and confusion and we are totally opposed to any forced dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board,” Browne told the Gleaner.

Grenada prime minister Keith Mitchell told the Jamaica Gleaner “We will do everything possible to effect the decision, We’re looking at legal options on the basis that cricket is a public good run by a private institution.”

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However, Mitchell who had also backed the panel’s findings last year said it was not his decision, it was a collective call and therefore Antigua and Barbuda prime minister Gaston Browne’s stand didn’t stand much chance.

“It is a common position of the Heads, not individual positions, and we cannot operate on the basis of individual positions, it’s about the Heads, When I expressed my sentiments on cricket, it was about what the Heads said – the committee that we established jointly with the West Indies Cricket Board – and we agreed between the subcommittee and the West Indies Cricket Board to implement the recommendations. So it was not a Keith Mitchell decision, it was not a Keith Mitchell activity, it was a committee set up by the West Indies Cricket Board and the Heads of Government,” Mitchell added.

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The CARICOM review panel was set up after West Indies suddenly pulled out of the Indian tour in 2014.