VIVIAN RICHARDS, former chairman of the West Indies selection committee, yesterday accused Jackie Hendriks, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, of the type of insularity and interference that he claims is a major part of the problem in West Indies cricket.
Speaking at a press conference hosted by the Sticky Wicket West Indies Hall of Fame committee at the Sherbourne Conference Centre in Bridgetown, Richards, the batting maestro, the 'Master Blaster' from Antigua, also accused the West Indies Board of making the type of blunders, and especially recently, that could destroy West Indies cricket.
In a fiery outburst during which he also hinted that Australian control of West Indies cricket is not the answer to the problems of West Indies cricket, the former West Indies batting star, West Indies captain, and West Indies coach, accused Hendriks of interfering on two occasions in 2003 when Christopher Gayle was dropped for the first two Test matches against Australia after making himself unavailable for Jamaica in the regional four-day final and then going off to play a match in St. Lucia, and again in 2003-04 when the tour committee decided to send Marlon Samuels home during the tour of India.
QUESTIONS ASKED
According to Richards, Hendriks was looking to get re-elected as the president of the JCA, and because of that, "that same Mr. Hendriks asked questions, not of me but of Joey Carew, as to why we dropped Chris Gayle, why we want to send Marlon Samuels home."
"Politics, man. I tell you, politics, and you can write that in huge, bold, black letters," said Richards on the eve of the Test match.
When contacted last night, Hendriks said he was hearing of the outburst for the first time, and did not have much to say.
"That is his opinion," Hendriks said. "I respect Mr. Richards, very, very highly and I don't think it is necessary to reply to this."
In his attack on the board, Richards, who said that there was wrong on both sides, went on to say that things are now so bad that members of the board, those who negotiate on behalf of the board, should be removed and if no one has the guts to remove them, they should jump.
NO RESPECT
"We have guys on this team who may be around for a long time guys who may help to take us back to where we were once upon a time. After what has happened recently, however, they will have no respect for these board members, and man, if players don't have respect for board members what can we expect."
In highlighting some of the things that were wrong during his time as chairman of the selection committee, Richards talked about the attitude of Shivnarine Chanderpaul that led to the selectors leaving him out of a Test match, about Samuels' attitude, and about the behaviour of the chairman of WIPA (the West Indies Players Asssociation) "who had the habit of being in the West Indies dressing room up to five minutes before the start of a day's play".
"I had to make some moves, man, because of that, I was unpopular including to members of the board. Dealing with the board was nasty, very nasty."
Would you like to once again be involved with West Indies cricket?
Smiling for the first time during his outburst, Richards replied: "Oh yes, I would like to be involved, and I could one day."
In an obvious reference to the appointment of Gary Sobers, Richards said: "I could be the technical adviser, I am not too old. At 53, I am still a young man."
T.B.
