Tony Astaphan, the legal counsel for the recently sacked West Indies selection panel, consisting of Courtney Browne, Lockhart Sebastien and Eldine Baptiste, has lambasted comments made by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Ricky Skeritt and took a serious view of the new administration for unfairly terminating the services of his three clients.
Announcing a revamp of the selection panel, the newly appointed president, who took over after Dave Cameron was sacked from his position as CWI president, had criticized the previous selection panel of following a policy which 'secretly, but actively, victimised some players and banished them from selection consideration'.
Browne was replaced by an interim chairman Robert Haynes, while former captain and director of cricket, Jimmy Adams and the new interim head coach, Floyd Reifer, were added to the selection panel.
Astaphan, who was speaking at the Mason and Guess show on Thursday (April 18), took serious view of the comments against his clients and retaliated that they were disappointed at the tone of the newly-appointed president.
"My clients are very troubled by their dismissal and the manner of their dismissal, particularly the statements made about the 'old embedded selection policy which secretly but actively victimised players and banished them from selection consideration'," he said.
"That's a serious [charge] and it affects the manner of dismissal of Mr Browne, Mr Baptiste and Mr Sebastien. What we are looking at now within the context of the labour code of Antigua and Barbuda is whether having regard to all the facts and circumstances, including the terms of the agreements signed by these good gentlemen, who as you know have dedicated their lives to West Indies cricket, constitute independent contractors or employees under the Antigua and Barbuda labour code," he added.
One of the major talking points on the sacking of the three selectors was regarding to 'selection policy', which Astaphan contended had nothing to do with Mr Browne. Instead, he added, the sacked selection panel had simply adhered to the rules set up by the previous establishment. Going further, Astaphan discussed the positive contributions of Mr Brown and said that the former West Indies wicket-keeper had always received 'excellent appraisals' which helped him stay in the job for a long time. Browne - he said was 'diligent' and a 'strategic thinker' - quoting appraisal reports from the present director of cricket, Jimmy Adams and his predecessor, Richard Pybus.
"He has been there since 2010 and you having before every renewal of his contract, gone through what is called an employee job assessment and getting extraordinary marks on matters of ethics and selections, to be thrown out like that with the commentary of a discriminatory selection policy which he did not set," Astaphan noted.
"I think it is a well-known fact there was a selection criteria either approved by the board or requested by the board, and there was a technical team set up with the specific jurisdictional authority to decide who was eligible or not. They were the ones that made the decision as to who was eligible or not.
"The selectors were required only to select from people who were eligible for selection and it seems as if these gentlemen have been sent packing because [there are those] who believe there is an old embedded selection policy which secretly but actively victimised players, of which Mr Browne, Mr Baptiste and Mr Sebastien were a part.
"That's extraordinary when you consider the findings made in the 2014, 2016 assessment by Richard Pybus, when he did the assessment of Courtney Browne. It said 'Courtney has worked diligently'... whereas Jimmy Adams was much more specific [saying] 'Courtney has effectively managed the selection panel and its processes. He communicates effectively to all stakeholders and is a strategic thinker'," he added.
The new administration panel has made sweeping changes in the way cricket is run in the island nation and as part of this process - interim coach, Richard Pybus, his assistant, Vasbert Drakes, and the entire coaching staff were sacked, despite a series win against the touring England side. Drakes, through his lawyer, QC Ralph Thorne, has already indicated that he would be taking legal action against CWI.
Cricbuzz .com
