Lewis unaware of WICB-CWC merger possibility

The possibilty of a merger between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with Cricket World Cup (CWC) was reported last Sunday. However, Ellis Lewis, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (T&TCB) president and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) director, has said that may not even be possible given the mandate of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

On Sunday, the Barbados Sunday Sun newspaper reported there was a move afoot to amalgamate the two bodies. At the moment CWC, a subsidiary of the WICB, is headed by Rawle Brancker, the chariman, and the WICB by Teddy Griffith, the outgoing president , both of whom are from Barbados. Griffith, who announced in May that he would not be offering himself for re-election, is about to be succeeded by Ken Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago at the WICB's annual general meeting in St Maarten on August 7.

"If the plan is accepted at next month's board meeting," the Sun report stated, "Brancker is likely to be removed." The article also stated that sources claimed that over the past week Griffith, "who may be retained in a consultative capacity after his retirement", had been canvassing members of the board to drum up support for the new president to have dual responsibility.

Lewis told the Express he had not been contacted by Griffith and it was the first time he was hearing about a merger. He also expressed the view that the merger may not even be a possibility. "I don't know that there can be any merging of the WICB and Cricket Wold Cup," he added. "I think it is a requirement from the ICC that the company in charge of the World Cup be a separate entity" from the West Indies Cricket Board. "So that's news to me," he said, before concluding, "It (a merger) should not even arise."