Bridgetown, Barbados, December 3 - (
www.bcacricket.org
) - West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Whycliffe "Dave" Cameron has revealed that the circumstances surrounding the premature return home of key fast bowler Kemar Roach from the ill-fated tour of India because of a shoulder injury are being investigated.
Furthermore, Cameron, a 42-year-old Jamaican businessman who was elected as WICB president eight months ago, said he only knew of the injury after Roach was "sent back".
Speaking in a frank, wide-ranging interview on the popular talk show Mid Wicket, The Real Cricket Show, on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio station 100.7 FM, Cameron told moderator Keith Holder that "responsibility and accountability" were vital in West Indies cricket.
Roach, a gifted 25-year-old Barbadian who has 85 wickets at 27.71 runs apiece in 23 Tests since his debut in 2009, injured his shoulder in the field while representing his local club CGI Maple against repeat champions Sagicor Life UWI in the final of the BCA Sagicor General Twenty20 tournament under lights at Kensington Oval on October 13.
He was forced to leave the field for treatment after bowling only one over for nine runs while picking up a wicket in the second over of the innings before UWI went to complete a thrilling two-wicket win off the very last ball of the match.
Roach travelled with the West Indies team to Florida for a one-week Elite team tour and then on to India, and did not play in the West Indies' only first-class match against Uttar Pradesh (October 31-November 2).
There were no reports from the WICB on his injury until he missed the opening Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata which West Indies lost by an innings and 51 runs inside three days. The WICB dramatically announced in a Press release on November 9 - one day after that defeat - that Roach would be returning home for "ongoing management and subsequent physical rehabilitation".
In the release, West Indies team physiotherapist CJ Clarke described Roach's injury as "uncommon among cricketers".
When told by Holder in a live, telephone link-up from Kingston that Roach had injured his shoulder in the Sagicor General T20 final and he (Holder) was unhappy with a lack of information from the WICB between Roach's departure for India and the sudden disclosure of his return home, Cameron responded: "Thank you very much for that, Keith. You've just given me information that I'm not aware of."
"And you know, that is something I have spoken about in West Indies cricket, talking about responsibility and accountability, because if persons in Barbados were aware of that incident, why did they not inform the West Indies Cricket Board of such?
"I only knew about the injury after Mr. Roach was sent back. Now, yes, we have doctors and we have physios and all of these things and I can say to you now that, that matter is under investigation because under this new administration one has to be responsible and account for how is it that this could have happened, that Kemar could have gone with such a serious injury all the way to India without us detecting it and if we did and agreed to, who made that decision because I certainly wasn't aware of it?
"And I am sure somebody else inside the Board was aware and took that decision to send him on the basis maybe that they felt that he could have recovered in time," Cameron said.
In the WICB release on November 9, Clark said: “Kemar has not made the expected recovery from the shoulder injury that kept him out of the first Test and he is returning to the Caribbean for ongoing management and subsequent physical rehabilitation."
The tour of India was a disastrous one for West Indies. They lost the two-Test series 2-0 with both matches finishing in three days and were also beaten 2-1 in a three-match One-Day International seres.
West Indies are currently touring New Zealand.
NB: Mid Wicket is broadcast live on Tuesdays on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation 100.7 FM (
www.cbc.bb
) from 8 until 9.30 p.m. (East Caribbean time).