Thank you for visiting WWW.BELGRAFIX.COM, "Grenada on the Internet, one byte at a time"

HOME	OCTOBER 08 th, 2005

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is confident that there could be a resolution to the problems facing West Indies Cricket before the team leaves later this year for the tour of Australia.

The Grenadian leader made this disclose last Friday at a press conference at the Cabinet Room in the Ministerial Complex located at the Botanical Gardens in St. George’s.

Dr. Mitchell spoke with the press after a meeting between the CARICOM Prime Ministerial sub-committee on Cricket, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and President and Chief Executive Officer of West Indies Players Association (WIPA), Dinanath Ramnarine and Industrial Relations Adviser to WIPA, David Abdullah.

He said that after the discussions that were held, “I feel much more optimistic than some months ago that we could have some resolution to this matter.” He pointed to two reasons for this - the change and leadership of the board and the revaluations of the Lucky report.

The Lucky report made some rather disturbing findings about WICB and the conditions which surrounded the completion of the deal reached with new sponsor, Digicel that replaced Cable & Wireless as the official sponsors of West Indies cricket.
The Lucky committee was given the mandate to investigate the period leading up to the signing of the deal with Digicel, and the termination of the deal Cable & Wireless, the former sponsor of 18 years.

According to Dr. Mitchell, the resolution of the conflict will ensure that the best team will be made available to the selectors to represent the West Indies on the tour to Australia.

The Prime Minister indicated that there was a good chance that there will be a new mind set with respect to making sure that there is optimum performance of the players. In addition, he said there needs to be a serious developmental programme to assist players in their playing techniques and financially.

“There is a need for serious contractual agreements with the West Indies players as the other countries are doing,” he said. He was quick to add that, “It wouldn’t be long before we see West Indies Cricket return to the pinnacle of the game.”

Like Dr. Mitchell, Ramnarine was hopeful that the best Caribbean team will go to Australia.