WIBC Chief Short Under Fire (12 Dec 1995)

This article is taken from the Daily Gleaner, 12/12/95, author Tony Becca.

Short`s job on the line

West Indies Cricket Board of Control president Peter Short is in trouble - he could lose the job at Friday`s meeting in Bridgetown. The purpose of the emergency meeting is to discuss the Brian Lara affair. It could however, end up with Short on trial and out of office.

Information coming out of the islands is that a number of board members are up in arms against Short, and they have been calling around seeking support for his removal. The man being considered for the job is Jamaica`s Patrick Rousseau - the man who many are supporting to take over from Short when his term of office officially ends next May.

According to the information, the anti-Short campaign started with the president`s apparent lack of solid support for the disciplinary committee and the board`s decision to discipline Lara. It gathered momentum following Lara`s statement that he was told, on the spot, after talking with the president and agreeing to continue, that nothing further would come out of his absence from the team during the tour of England, and it became stronger when the emergency meeting was called to discuss the Lara affair.

According to those moving against Short, the reasons for their discontent are that the president acted without conviction and attempted to protect himself when, while talking about the World Cup and Lara`s selection, he said: I don`t know what will happen then, I don`t know what view the board is going to take, or what decision Brian is going to take about his future and his immediate post-Australian participation.

They also claim Short acted without authority when he assured Lara nothing would come of his behaviour in England when he walked away from the team, and that he is wrong to call a meeting to discuss the Lara affair.

The decision to look into the indiscipline of four players - including Lara - following the manager`s report, came from the board, said one member yesterday, and Short is the president of the board. The disciplinary committee, having been brought in, has the authority to act, and Short`s statements, following the fine and Lara`s withdrawal from the tour of Australia, was as if he had nothing to do with it.

"Short," said another, "had no right to promise Lara anything," and from another it was simply this: "Why should we now be meeting to discuss the Lara issue? Of course, we should not throw him away, or attempt to do so, but as the one who was found guilty and fined, as the one who pulled out of the tour, he should be the one to come forward."

Friday`s meeting will also discuss the headquarters of the board. Barbados has been the site of the board for the past seven years. Jamaica is bidding to be the new site.