The war of words

Text of letter from the West Indies touring squad to Dinanath Ramnarine, the CEO of the West Indies Players' Association

Dear Mr. Ramnarine,

We would like to bring to your attention in your capacity as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Players Association our astonishment, disappointment and displeasure at remarks made by the Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Cricket Board, Mr. Bruce Aanensen with regard to us players on the West Indies team. We, however, felt that it would more appropriate to bring up this matter at the end of the England Tour rather than during when the comments of Mr. Aanensen were actually made.

We are highly offended that Mr. Aanensen saw it fit to have publicly labeled us the players as 'incompetent'. We register this with you and ask you to bring it to the attention of the Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board as well as to the Chairman of the Cricket Committee Mr. Clive Lloyd. Please implore the directors and Mr. Lloyd that we the players wish for this matter to be seriously addressed and appropriate action taken.

We are also disturbed to learn that Mr. Aanensen made an issue of your meeting with us just prior to our departure for the tour to England. Although we question his claim that he was well within his rights to do so, we, nevertheless, find it incredulous that he should contemplate a position to debar the constitutional representative of the players from meeting them in his official capacity.

We are now left with the rather difficult situation of determining whether as players we would be able to continue working with Mr. Aanensen. Unfortunately, given the unfair and frankly thoughtless nature of his comments we would not be keen in having any further interaction at a professional level with Mr. Aanensen.

From Mr. Aanensen's comments, for which, significantly, he has made no withdrawals or apologies, we would find it virtually impossible to engage him in any meaningful manner.

Sincerely, Members of the West Indies Team in England & Ireland

Text of letter from Ramnarine to Ken Gordon, the West Indies Cricket Board president

Dear Mr. Gordon

It is no secret that since Mr. Bruce Aanensen assumed the position of CEO of the WICB on April 16, 2007, his modus operandi has not been viewed favourably by WIPA. The attached letter dated July 07, 2007 received from the West Indies team in England adds further fuel to the matter. Even admitting that no one is perfect or 100 per cent correct, we continue to find it increasingly difficult to work with Mr. Aanensen in the interest of West Indies cricket. Mr. Aanensen's management style is unfortunate and surprising for a CEO who has only recently assumed his position and should therefore be trying to build bridges for the future.

Recent examples of such negative management style are as follows:

1. Indicating to the public that the Board had submitted all relevant documents to the Arbitration Panel re the Future Tour Programme when, indeed, it had not done so.

2. Issuing misleading statements regarding Caricom's official position on the Zimbabwe tour.

3. Displaying little tact as a CEO in publicly criticizing the players as "incompetent" while they were in the middle of a tour.

4. Causing much embarrassment in not ensuring that replacement players arrived in time for the commencement of the ODI series in England.

5. Flouting the MOU regarding the need for prior consultation and agreement with WIPA with respect to the tour to Zimbabwe and the proposed dates for the upcoming first class regional tournament. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, WIPA had to learn about both these scheduling arrangements in the media.

6. Failure to consult and agree with WIPA in determining 'Team Policy" which the WICB is required to do under the terms of our agreement.

7. Seemingly insufficient understanding of the Agreements signed and the issues involved, resulting in the recent lengthy and costly arbitration exercise.

8. Leaks to the media by Board sources which I have discussed with you previously, that caused embarrassment to WIPA and the players (e.g. captaincy issue re Ganga/Gayle)

9. Making uncomplimentary remarks to the media about me as President and CEO of WIPA.

10. Apparent reluctance to meet with me as President and CEO of WIPA in spite of at least three requests made by me. We have met only once through my initiative, and this was prior to his assumption of duty as CEO.

11. On the only occasion I spoke to Mr. Aanensen on the telephone, he hung up the phone on me and when I called him back he ended up again hanging up on me. I regarded this as the height of discourtesy, and

12. We continue to receive feedback from talk show hosts throughout the region, regarding public opinion about Mr. Aanansen's negative management style.

Naturally we recognize the right of WICB to employ anyone they choose but at the same time they should make every effort to select the right person for each job, especially if the position is a public, high-profile post where credibility and transparency are so important in the eyes of other relevant parties. With deep respect and in the view of the Executive of WIPA and the players, Mr. Aanensen has not started off on the right foot.

Given the above comments, we feel strongly that in the interest of W.I. Cricket, Mr. Aanensen should be asked to resign with immediate effect so that the incoming Board can start with a clean slate.

Respectfully yours, Dinanath Ramnarine

Text of letter from Gordon to Ramnarine

Dear Mr. Ramnarine,

This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 12th re the management style of our CEO.

Having discussed with Mr. Aanensen the alleged examples of "negative management style" about which you complain, and heard his explanations, I am satisfied that there is no justification to your charges.

Nonetheless, it is desirable that I convey my own response to your complaint. It is of the utmost importance that organizations like WIPA and WICB should work closely together. That was one of my principal objectives when I assumed the Presidency and as I think you are aware, I invested a considerable amount of time in attempting to build a relationship. I have not succeeded and perhaps there is something more that I might have done which I did not do... if so I continue to ponder what that might have been.

On the other hand I have heard your bitter complaints about the WICB and all it's officials: The Board is totally incompetent; the former President was inaccessible; the former CEO could not be trusted; the CFO is inefficient; the Corporate Secretary is dishonest and you refuse to communicate with him even on official business, causing complications in the communication flow between our organizations for which you blame everyone but yourself. You have been frequently abusive to Deryck Murray and his team at negotiations and I have had to inform you that such behaviour is unacceptable. You have stated at meetings with one of our Board members and two executives of WICB present, that I am a liar. You have since denied saying so, while everyone present heard your comment. I even understand that you have informed both Barry Thomas and Tony Deyal that you would have them fired.

In addition, you publicly denigrate the WICB Board, its Officers and Executive at every opportunity and remain constantly critical in the media.

Now you state that Mr. Aanensen should be asked to resign because of his "negative style".

Permit me to suggest that self analysis of your own style is long over due. I have urged you on more than one occasion to do so. You have done much on behalf of the players and I personally commend you for that. But you appear incapable of rising to the level of maturity now required if the relationship between WIPA and WICB is to contribute to the development of West Indies Cricket.

I sincerely hope you will accept the foregoing in the spirit in which it is written, bearing in mind that whatever differences may exist, civility is at the core of all healthy relationships. When people feel abused, many hit back and then everything goes downhill.

It is not too late to attempt a new beginning and if you are disposed to doing so, I would be pleased to arrange a three cornered meeting before I demit office between Mr. Aanensen and us both.

With kind regards

(not signed when sent electronically)

K. Gordon