West Indies Domestic: Ban on Wallace rescinded

Barbados' cricket captain Philo Wallace was all smiles yesterday as a proposed 'ban' on him was rescinded because of procedural blunders.

Match referee Anthony Lalacksingh did not follow the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Code of Conduct, the WICB said, and Wallace was therefore given the go-ahead to lead the defending champions in this weekend's Busta Cup semifinal against the Leeward Islands.

Wallace faced a one-match suspension for allegedly questioning the umpires' decisions in the fifth-round match against Trinidad and Tobago, but the WICB was forced to rescind the punishment because of concern over the way the matter was handled.

In a Press release received at 4:54 p.m. yesterday, the WICB indicated '... its concern that the match referee, in arriving at his decision, did not follow the procedures required by the WICB Code of Conduct'.

The WICB, however, added: 'While the board has found that there is substance to the allegations against the Barbados captain, the procedural errors by match referee Lalacksingh preclude the imposition of a ban.'

'What happened is gone and I feel positive,' the jovial captain said after he had a net session at Queen's Park yesterday. 'We have to look forward, and I am happy to be in the semifinal.'

The 28-year-old opener, the only player with two centuries in the tournament, said he was not really flustered in the past two days when the matter mushroomed, and thanked the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), through secretary Philip Nicholls, for the role it played.

'It goes to show the BCA is looking out for the players,' Wallace said about the BCA's initiative in sending a letter to the WICB questioning the way in which Wallace's hearing was conducted.

'Something happened and it was dealt with; but throughout I never felt any real pressure.'