WICB future looking bleak By Tony Cozier

AS the directors of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) met in emergency session in Barbados yesterday “to conduct a thorough assessment of all the ramifications” of Friday’s unprecedented abandonment of the Indian tour, they faced the prospect that the organisation could go out of business should the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) press a claim for damages along with its suspension of future bilateral tours.

The directors entered their meeting yesterday hours after the BCCI confirmed its intention to defer future bilateral tours; the International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme (FTP) lists India for five series against the West Indies in the next eight years, including four visits to the Caribbean.

Although it did not specifically mention earlier speculation that it would seek compensation from the WICB for financial losses, it stated that it would start legal proceedings.

It is estimated that the revenue shortfall from 17 blank playing days on the cancelled tour, mainly through television rights and ticket sales, is over US$60 million.

Doubts over the WICB’s survival had already been raised before the present crisis by the chartered accountants, KPMG