KINGSTON – Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding is expected to put forward his country’s position to CARICOM when the Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on Cricket convenes in Trinidad and Tobago this week.
Golding is expected to weigh in on the impasse between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), which has plagued the regional game in recent months.
Only recently in his live radio address, the Jamaican leader raised concerns about the management of West Indies cricket.
“West Indies cricket belongs to the people and a way has to be found to ensure that it is the people’s interest that is represented in the management of cricket, and to ensure that the people who manage West Indies cricket are held accountable to the people,” he said.
“What has happened is that the cricket has been captured by all sorts of interests.”
It was not clear whether Golding would touch on the Chris Gayle issue which has been at the centre of the latest controversy involving the WICB and WIPA.
The left-handed Jamaican batsman was left out of the recent Test and One-Day series against India, following a highly charged interview with a national radio station in which he was heavily critical of the WICB.
He met with the WICB in an effort to resolve the issue but the meeting, involving WICB and WIPA officials, ended in confusion.
With no end in sight to the dispute, Gayle called for CARICOM’s intervention in the matter and chairman, St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, announced in July that the sub-committee would be re-established to deal with the issue.
Douglas said there were “critical issues regarding the future of West Indies cricket” which needed to be addressed.
Golding will be joined in the discussions by the High Commissioner of Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago and CARICOM, Sharon Saunders. (CMC)
