CL Financial want full-time Windies pros.
By: Mark Pouchet - T&T Express.
Off-season occupation and full-time year-round professional employment for all members of the West Indies cricket team.
That's what Caribbean conglomerate CL Financial is promising as the company stands "ready to invest well over US$20 million in the support and development of West Indies cricket".
However, reports are that sources connected to Digicel have dismissed as "utter rubbish", the Trinidad and Tobago-based company's proposal that was made public Thursday night, adding that Ireland-based telecommunications company Digicel "are totally committed to the deal" with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and "have invested too much time and effort to just walk away".
In a letter sent to the WICB on Thursday, CL Financial, through their group financial director Andre Monteil, laid an offer on the table that proposed the buy out of the disputed Cable and Wireless contracts of seven players, including that of star batsman Brian Lara.
CL FInancial also intended to buy out Digicel's US$20 million five-year sponsorship deal with the WICB.
Yesterday, in a press statement, Gabriel Faria, marketing director of CL Financial's subsidiary company Angostura Ltd, elaborated the proposed terms of their sponsorship for West Indies cricket.
Calling the move a "recovery plan for West Indies Cricket", Faria said: "Cricket is the original passion and as the Caribbean's premier business entity, we stand ready to play our part in bringing stability and pride back to the team and West Indies Cricket as a whole."
At the heart of the offer would be off-season occupation and full-time year-round professional employment for all members of the West Indies team, a situation that would have the WI cricketers "make a viable livelihood from cricket, while concentrating on their own and the team's development".
Faria added that Angostura's endorsement with Lara and CLICO's (another CL Financial subsidiary) $5 million sponsorship of the West Indies under-15 cricket championships position the T&T company at both ends of the spectrum-the beginners and the world-class achievers.
"Recent developments with the team suggested to us that a holistic approach to support was needed, and needed immediately," said Faria.
Faria further explained that robust energy sector earnings have made it possible for the CL Financial Group to give back more to the region, while building a positive association for their key brands as linked to "the innate talent of our Caribbean territories".
Waiting on Lara.
By: Tony Cozier - T&T Express.
C&W six out, 'Prince' still to decide.
The Plot thickened yesterday in the latest complex saga that has undermined the already threadbare fabric of West Indies cricket. In an astonishing development, even by its own standards, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced that Brian Lara had suddenly been deemed eligible for the first Test of the Digicel series against South Africa in Georgetown, now 12 days away.
In a statement from its St John's headquarters, it said it had issued a letter of invitation and a match/tour contract to the 35-year-old master batsman "to make himself available for selection", adding that he had agreed to respond "within 24 hours".
As a result, the WICB once more delayed announcing the already selected squad of 14 until today. It had earlier been promised on Thursday and then again yesterday.
Lara has played no cricket since returning from the VB Series in Australia in early February, reportedly because of a wrist injury sustained in the opening match of the tournament.
But it is his reaction to the entire episode, rather than his fitness, that is likely to condition his decision.
Veteran of 112 Tests, captain since 2003 and holder of the world record Test and first-class scores, Lara is the only one of the seven players cleared who hold personal endorsement contracts with Cable and Wireless, the former team sponsor and direct telecommunications competitor of new sponsor, Digicel.
Lara and the others with Cable and Wireless agreements-Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Smith-were originally ruled out of contention by the WICB when it chose 22 players March 4 to prepare for the series.
It explained that it wanted time for its lawyers to examine the contracts to determine whether they would constitute a breach of its agreement with Digicel.
The WICB stated yesterday that its legal counsel advised that Lara's two-year contract with Cable and Wireless, signed in 2003 and due to expire in September, differed from the others since it was "entered into with the constructive knowledge of the board and with its blessing".
It added that its lawyers found that the contracts of the others were "clearly not in the nature of individual contracts and were signed as members of the West Indies team while under contract to the West Indies Cricket Board".
Throughout the day, speculation mounted that, even if Lara was included in the squad, he would be replaced as captain by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his deputy on the recent tour of Australia and the second most seasoned member of the team with 80 Tests.
The selectors reportedly recommended that he retain the leadership he has held, for the second time, since March 2003. But it had to be ratified at a teleconference call yesterday by the 14 WICB directors, several of whom are known to oppose his reappointment.
There were other issues yesterday that kept the pot boiling.
The WICB said it had no knowledge of a front page lead story in the Trinidad Guardian stating that Cable and Wireless released its signed players from their contracts "to pave the way for the West Indies selectors to pick the best regional team".
For its part, Digicel dismissed any suggestion that it would take up a published offer from CL Financial, the large Trinidad and Tobago conglomerate, to buy out its US$20 million, four-year contract with the WICB. "We are totally committed to this deal," the website cricinfo.com, quoted "a source connected to Digicel" as saying.
And overnight, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) issued a statement again berating the WICB, its bete noire, for its role in the conflict over the Digicel-sponsored team.
Each new twist, individually and collectively, was guaranteed to keep the emotional and often misinformed debate volatile.
West Indies Players Association call for Caricom enquiry.
T&T Express Reports.
The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has criticised the West Indies Cricket Board over its handling of the current sponsorship impasse, and has called on the Heads of Caricom Governments to commission an inquiry into the Board's running of the regional game.
In a release issued late Thursday night, WIPA said it was not pleased with that fact that the Board assumed sole authority in taking a decision on the validity of the players' personal contracts, and that it had set its own time frame for picking the team for the first Test against South Africa.
"It is clear to WIPA that the ongoing behaviour of the Board during this entire exercise raises serious questions regarding the important issue of cricket administration in the Caribbean which in WIPA's opinion is best addressed by an open inquiry commissioned by Heads of Caricom Governments," read the release, signed by WIPA president , Dinanath Ramnarine.
It continued: "Unfortunately, WIPA has concluded that the Board has set up its legal advisors as the sole arbiter of these contracts and is therefore likely to come on its own to a final conclusion whether or not the players can fulfil certain unstated obligations to the Board and Digicel.
"The Board has unilaterally set its own timeline for the naming of a team, ensuring that it takes advantage of the fact that the clock would run out.
According to the release, the Board's actions would inevitably place the team selected under immense pressure and compromise the preparation for the upcoming four-Test series.
