CARICOM proposes ‘grand settlement’ as alternative option to BCCI’s US$41.97m claim

CARICOM has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) proposing a “grand settlement” as an alternative resolution to BCCI’s US$41.97 million claim against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Stating that the WICB is on the verge of insolvency, CARICOM {{more}}Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque proposes that the BCCI permits an additional delay of 40 days in pursuance of its claim, and during this time, a High-level Working Group, set up by the Chair of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket (PMSC), will meet with all the relevant entities and personalities, especially the BCCI, the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), to “hammer out details of a ‘grand settlement’.”

According to the letter dated November 11, 2014, CARICOM envisages that in the “grand settlement”: the WICB will immediately resolve its dispute with the senior West Indies cricketers who recently toured India (“the India 14”); WIPA and the “India 14” will “act with responsibilty in the interest of West Indies cricket; there will be a process of reform of the management and administrative systems of the WICB, with the Patterson Report on West Indies Cricket being the point of reference; the BCCI and the WICB will work together through the International Cricket Council (ICC) to advance cricket in “India and the West Indies for their respective benefit, and in the interest of world cricket;” the BCCI will “withdraw or shelve its pursuit of the claim of US$41.97 million…”

LaRocque made it clear that CARICOM does not envisage that the BCCI could simply wipe the slate clean outside of the context of the “grand settlement.”

He also disclosed that the WICB is not in any position to meet the claim, nor do any of the Governments of CARICOM intend to allocate money to resolve the situation.

“I should let you know that the reality is that the WICB is on the verge of insolvency and the BCCI claim simply cannot be met in whole or in part. Any insistence on a pursuance of the claim would set back West Indies and world cricket, and in all probability, be antithetical to cricket in India,” the letter states.

“In this ‘grand settlement’, I would like to emphasize that the Governments of the Member States of CARICOM do not intend to allocate any financial resources to this resolution. Rather, we suggest the five-point “grand settlement” as a possible way forward.”