Digicel deal highlights West Indies' problems

Digicel: a good deal for the region but the negotiations left something to be desired © Digicel

The news last week that the West Indies Cricket Board had signed a contract extension with Digicel should have provided cricket in the region with a boost at a time the game is plumbing new lows.

On the face of it, the agreement seems to be beneficial for the board as it guarantees additional income at a time cricket is hardly fighting off potential sponsors, and also appears to remove some of the most contentious clauses which caused bitter disputes in the aftermath of the original deal. Only time will tell whether this is the case.

But there are some serious questions that need to be asked about the way the deal was negotiated, especially the role of Ken Gordon, the WICB's outgoing president.

Gordon's tenure ends this weekend on July 29. He arrived with West Indies cricket in a mess, but there were high hopes he was the man to turn things round. Sadly, few would argue that he leaves it in a better state than he found it in. The last few months have been blighted by increasingly acrimonious disputes with players and a continuing decline on the field.

Given that he was about to depart, it might have been thought that he would leave such a major issue as the renegotiation of the Digicel contract to his successor, who is likely, barring an alternative candidate appearing late in the day, to be Julian Hunte.

But what actually happened was quite the opposite. Gordon and his executive actually accelerated the negotiation process. On July 15, two weeks before Gordon steps down, he held an executive meeting to ratify the deal. The board was split down the middle - which raises concerns that the deal might not be as beneficial as it is being painted - and Gordon had to use his deciding vote to force the contract through.

It also might be expected that Hunte, who will have to work within the restrictions of the contract, would have been closely involved in the process. However, he was not. A spokesman for the WICB told Cricinfo that Hunte was not at the time an officer of the board but that "even so he was invited as a courtesy to attend the meeting ... unfortunately this clashed with certain other personal matters and he was unable to attend."

And what of the players? The original deal led to a long-running dispute over branding. It might have been expected that this time they would have been consulted. Even though a board official told Cricinfo that the board would "we treat the organisation with the courtesy denied to us", a WIPA spokesman insisted that no consultation had taken place.

In fairness, the Digicel deal had been under the spotlight for some time and it was advantageous to both parties that it was extended. Nobody is querying the wisdom of the decision nor that is was made within the rules, but there are serious questions to be asked about the manner with which it was handled.

It is yet another example of the increasingly high-handed way the WICB's executive had operated of late. Hunte has his work cut out to restore credibility and player-board relations off the field before he can address what is happening on it.

It seems increasingly likely that the only way that can happen is for him to get rid of some of the executive who have been instrumental in ensuring he starts his unenviable task with one hand tied behind his back. He is already hampered by the hand dealt to him. If he has to work with the same people who have caused so much of the antagonism then his task might be impossible.

The Digicel deal in itself is not a problem. But the way it was handled does typify how West Indies cricket has reached the sorry state it is in today.