West Indies players blamed by WICB as board confirms collapse of India tour
Saturday 18 October 2014 20:40, UK
The West Indies Cricket Board has apologised "unreservedly" after the collapse of its side's tour of India.
A dispute with the touring players came to a head during the fourth one-day international, leading the Indian cricket authorities (BCCI) to release a statement claiming the remaining five scheduled games would not go ahead.
The WICB initially denied withdrawing from the tour, but West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo made it clear in the aftermath of their 59-run defeat in Dharamsala that the players considered the trip over.
And after meeting to discuss the crisis, the WICB later released a second statement blaming the players and confirming there would be no fifth ODI, no one-off T20 international and no three-Test series.
It read: "Players in the West Indies Squad currently in India represented by Mr. Dwayne Bravo indicated to the WICB that the players have taken a decision to withdraw their services for the remainder of the tour of India.
"As a result of this action by the players the WICB was left with no option but to advise the BCCI that it will no longer be able to provide a West Indies team for the remaining five matches."
An offer to bring out a second-string team was rejected by the BCCI, which has been urged to seek compensation by joint honorary secretary Anurag Thakur.
But the WIBC statement claimed the BCCI had been forewarned about possible player action and said a delegation was due to arrive in India on Monday to discuss the squad's concerns.
Regrets
"The WICB regrets that the delegation which was pre-scheduled to travel to India to meet with the players on a number of issues will no longer be able to conduct such meeting," the statement read.
Captain Bravo has also been accused of using "inflammatory language" in a complaint to the West Indies Players' Association chief Wavell Hinds which the WICB says read: "Please note that we are giving you the opportunity to right this wrong before things deteriorate [sic] to such an extent that West Indies cricket to the wider cricket world looks to fall to its knees again."
The WICB will now hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday "to conduct a thorough assessment of all the ramifications of the premature end to the tour".
In the meantime, India have lined up Sri Lanka as replacement tourists for a five-match one-day series.
