Powell and Marshall
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER Digicel is expected to issue a statement, after a report from their representative who accompanied West Indies to the three-nation limited-overs international series in Australia was leaked to a Trinidad and Tobago newspaper.
Excerpts of the confidential report, that does not paint a rosy picture of the team, appeared in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper yesterday.
Richard Nowell, group sponsorship manager of Digicel, described the team "as lacking sponsor/media savvy" in the report to Digicel chief executive Denis O'Brien. "Until we have had a chance to review the report internally, I will not be making any comments on the matter," Nowell told CMC Sports yesterday. "But you can expect a statement from Digicel later."
'A TERRORIST GROUP'
The Guardian reported yesterday that Nowell knocked the conduct of the players, labelled the West Indies Players Association as "a terrorist group", and reckoned that the company was getting little value from the sponsorship.
"They are poor ambassadors from any representative team I have come across in my six years, working in seven different sports," Nowell allegedly wrote. "As sponsorship manager, I am deeply concerned as to the length of the road Digicel needs to travel to begin to gain benefit from their US$20 million (J$1.4 billion) investment."
Nowell reportedly observed that had certain members of the West Indies team scored as many runs as they had women's phone numbers during the tour, they would have won the series comfortably.
He noted that on the eve of the match against Australia in Brisbane, he heard numerous doors banging and female voices along the players' hotel corridor well after 1:00 a.m.
FLOWN IN GIRL
"Perhaps more astounding, was following the team's defeat against Pakistan, the player rooming next to me had company 20 minutes after returning from a crushing defeat," he wrote. "As a former professional cricketer and having toured with England on three occasions, I know men need to have fun while on tour. However, not at the expense of their performance.
"Even in Perth, the most crucial time of the tour, one player had flown in a girl from Adelaide."
The Guardian revealed that Nowell pointed out that he had recruited a television crew to feed news to the Caribbean and he offered U$30,000 (J$1.86 million) to be shared among the squad in return for their input.
He claimed that on hearing this, the players contracted to Cable & Wireless refused to participate.
"The crew was treated with hostility, principally by the C&W contracted players," Nowell said, adding that the hostility was not only extended to his TV crew. "Sadly, in Brisbane, Ricardo Powell and Xavier Marshall agreed to be interviewed," he said. "They were then ostracised by the team at a visit to the Australia Zoo."
The newspaper outlined that Nowell had employed the photographic agency, Getty Images, to do a shoot at a pre-match news conference.
"The players refused to do this," he said. "The photographer, a long-standing sports photographer, commented that he had never encountered such a reluctance to work on behalf of a sponsor."
The Guardian said Nowell concluded that his report was a frank assessment of the tour, Digicel's first opportunity to exploit their rights as West Indies sponsors, and feels that new coach Bennett King has a huge culture change to effect.
He believes the West Indies Cricket Board has to seriously address the nuts and bolts of the sponsorship contract or unless it was pointless for Digicel to invest so heavily.
"With no relationship, access or support from the highest-profiled players who should be at the forefront of the sponsorship, combined with a terrorist players' association, our current rights have negligible value, if any," he said.
West Indies exited the three-nation competition after the first round, after they only managed to win one of the six matches they contested.
Australia won the three-nation limited-overs series when they prevailed over Pakistan 2-0 in the best-of-three finals.
