St.John’s (Antigua), Aug 14 (IANS) The Indian Supreme Court’s recent ruling aimed at shaking up the country’s cricket administration should give fresh momentum to moves for radical changes to the operations of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Charles Wilkins, former chairman of the governance committee for West Indies Cricket has said.
The Indian apex court has suspended two franchises in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for two years over a corruption scandal and had recommended changes to make the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) more transparent.
In an article circulated across the Caribbean, Wilkins has accused WICB administrators of deliberately refusing to introduce the changes needed in the region for personal reasons, reports CMC.
“The same changes are badly needed in this region. The WICB has itself recognised that, but does not like the consequences for its clique of administrators hence has backed away,” said Wilkins in his article on Thursday.
“The verdict of the Supreme Court of India should give fresh impetus to the move for change here.”
In April, WICB and Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) prime ministers said they had agreed to set up a panel comprising eminent Caribbean persons to examine the problem-plagued governance structure of the WICB with the view of “reversing the current negative trends in the sport”.
The move represented the latest attempt to arrest a worrying trend of crises in the regional administration of the game.
“The Caricom government should take note of the verdict. In their usual manner they have been slow to react and have done little of real impact,” Wilkins wrote.
“They should get serious and revive their efforts to force the badly needed changes. Public agitating to that end should continue.”
The Supreme Court has forbidden anyone who has commercial interests in individual IPL teams from contesting BCCI elections, because that could create an obvious conflict of interest.
The court has also appointed a committee that will punish certain team officials who violated IPL rules.
Wilkins, meanwhile, has accused the top three cricket playing nations – India, Australia and England – of attempting to “isolate” the West Indies and reduce their revenue from cricket.
Wilkins referenced the movie “Death of a Gentleman” which highlights the hijacking of the game by India, England and Australia as posing a threat to West Indies cricket.
“The West Indies is being isolated despite lip service paid by the big three to our importance to the game,” he said.
“For co-operating with the hijack, WICB were awarded the hosting in this year of the International Cricket Council’s annual meeting. What a grand prize. But India, Australia, and England grabbed for themselves all six international tournaments between 2015 and 2023.”
