England’s former skipper Mike Atherton calls for changes in West Indies Cricket
by Gary Smith
for Caribbean Net News
Thursday, July 7, 2005
LONDON, England: Former England
captain and opener Mike Atherton says the only way to end the ongoing dispute
between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players
Association (WIPA) is to change the leaders in both organizations.
"Such is the ill-feeling between the board and players that only a change of
leadership on both sides can solve the problem," Atherton wrote in his weekly
column in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
Atherton called on the WICB to follow in the
footstep of the English leaders and appoint a businessman, Ken Gordon, to lead
the regional body since Teddy Griffiths announced that he will not stand for a
second term. "The favourite to replace him
(Griffiths) would increasingly seem to be the former chairman of the Caribbean
Communications Network, Ken Gordon, a big-hitting businessman who would be
expected to bring the kind of leadership and vision that Ian MacLaurin brought
to the English game," Atherton added. He said
WIPA's president and chief executive Dinanath Ramnarine's "increasing
militancy is harming, rather than enhancing, his client's prospects".
"This is a case for the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations
to ask hard questions of Ramnarine's legitimacy and his motives. The
administrators have to recognise that their relationship with players is no
longer one of landowners to serfs. And emancipation is never trouble-free, as
the Packer years demonstrated," he added.
According to the Atherton’s article, the
West Indies will struggle with the crop of players they sent to Sri Lanka and
Chanderpaul will find it hard to deal with the pressure on his shoulders
because of decisions that he made. "For now,
a weakened, inexperienced West Indies team travel to the sub-continent where
even the best players find it tough to win. Chanderpaul will find it nigh on
impossible to generate much loyalty from his players because, whatever the
rights or wrongs of the matter, he failed to stand with them over the
contractual dispute."
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