LLOYD DENIES CRICKET COMMITTEE SIDESTEPPED

In response to allegations made by Mr. Michael Holding about his reasons for resigning from the Cricket Committee of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), and in the interests of fairness, the West Indies Cricket Board states:

Mr. Holding accused the President of the WICB, Mr. Kenneth Gordon, of “sidestepping” the Cricket Committee of the Board.
Chairman of the Cricket Committee, Mr. Clive Lloyd, in an e-mail to the WICB President (attached) said, “With regards to the Cricket Committee being ‘sidestepped’ over the selection of players my view of this is that the Cricket Committee should not have been involved in this issue consequently the responsibility rests solely with the WICB selectors.”
Mr. Holding claimed the WICB President and the WICB failed to reach an agreement with billionaire Allen Stanford over the US$5million 20/20 match against South Africa because of a conflict of dates with the Pakistan Futures Tours.
Initially, the Stanford Group applied directly to the ICC for ratification of its 20/20 Tournament and not to the WICB as should have been the case. When the group contacted the WICB, the Board was already negotiating the Pakistan tour. Yet, because of the desire to support the initiative, Mr. Gordon enlisted the support of the ICC and wrote three letters, the latest on August 23 to the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with the request, “If you can persuade your people to shift their domestic 20/20 competition from the end of December to the beginning, this should make the planned All Star Match possible.”
Mr. Holding is quoted as saying that when Mr.Gordon became president, he changed the terms of reference for the Cricket Committee, leading to Holding and Clive Lloyd withdrawing.
Mr. Lloyd’s response is, “From my recollection the personnel recommended for that committee by you were not accepted by the WICB. I do not recall resigning from that committee. In that instance, Michael Holding resigned for personal reasons. I was then asked to form a Cricket Committee earlier this year and
Michael Holding accepted the post as one of the members of the Cricket
Committee.
Mr. Holding has said, “Ken Gordon wrote to him saying that Lara and the selectors agreed that the squad for Pakistan shouldn't be chosen right now, but when Holding consulted the selectors Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts, they confirmed they had no discussion with Lara on the matter. So either Gordon in his letter to Holding was misinformed or he was being economical with the truth. Holding is in no doubt which it is."
Following Mr. Holding’s resignation the President wrote to Mr. Holding on August 29, 2006, indicating that he genuinely regretted that Mr. Holding deemed such an action necessary. Mr. Gordon clarified that the decision of the Selection Committee had nothing to do with the President’s opinion and that he was simply advised of the decision taken by the Selectors which appeared to be based on good advice. Chief Cricket Operations Officer, Zorol Barthley, whose responsibilities include liaison with the Selection Committee, wrote to the President on September 5, 2006 confirming that the selectors had asked for a deferral of the team selection for the tour of Pakistan until after the Malaysian Tri-Nation Series.

The foregoing represents the allegations advanced by Mr. Holding for his resignation. The facts demonstrate that there is no justification for the charges made.