Windies board has nowhere to hide

The West Indies Cricket Board had hoped to keep Justice Anthony Lucky's report into the handling of the sponsorship negotiations with Digicel under close wraps, but that wish has disappeared in a spate of leaks. The resulting fallout has left the board's reputation again under fire. Far from resolving the issue and clarifying what happened and who was to blame for what ended up as a shambolic mess, the report only seems to have further muddied the waters.

Of the three main parties - the WICB, Digicel and Cable & Wireless - the two telecom companies have emerged largely unscathed. It is the WICB's already tattered public image that has taken yet another beating. Their activities have been roundly condemned, and several senior officials have been openly criticised. And yet, because of comments made by Lucky which have grabbed the headlines, it may well be that some people who should be out on their ear actually survive as attention is diverted away from their actions.

The problem is that even if the leaked comments are accurate - and nobody has come out to deny them - some close to board and sponsor privately feel Lucky has overstepped the mark with the additional personal comments he appended to the report itself. While he has rightly identified some dreadful practices, in stating that the contract with Digicel could be considered "null and void" they claim he made statements beyond his remit.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the board's conduct, the fact is that Digicel are not going anywhere. Their part in the negotiations has not really been questioned, nor has their right to be the sponsors of West Indian cricket. The deficiencies of the board in their internal operations are not actually relevant to the outcome. Yes, the whole handling of the transfer from Cable & Wireless to Digicel was appallingly handled, and Digicel appear to have ended up with some clauses in the contract that should never have been allowed. But Digicel are legally the sponsors and will remain so. End of story.

What Lucky has done is to highlight what most people suspected - that the WICB is a mess, and has conducted its operations in virtual secrecy. "Perhaps it is a good thing that some things have come out in the media," Lucky said this week. "The WICB has been running the show as if it was a secret society or private club."

They might have got away with that had the business been run efficiently. But it has not, and financial worries, recent player strikes and on-field defeats have left Caribbean cricket at its lowest ebb since West Indies became a Test-playing nation. Much of the blame for that has to be laid at the door of the board, for the manner in which it has run its show.

The latest leaks have cast light on the role of an intermediary in the negotiations. While such a ploy - and this was aimed at keeping Digicel's identity secret from Cable & Wireless - is not abnormal business practice, the way that the board treated Cable & Wireless is certainly worth a closer investigation.

The WICB's own marketing officer has said that two main "driving forces" behind the Digicel deal were Teddy Griffith, the president at the time of the negotiations, and Roger Brathwaite, the chief executive. It is those early negotiations with Digicel which have indirectly led to the contract crisis in the Caribbean.

Griffith stepped down in August, but Brathwaite remains. His position appeared increasingly shaky before the Lucky report landed on his desk. Now, in the light of the findings, it is even harder for him to continue to represent West Indies cricket. His relationship with the West Indies Players' Association is almost non existent, and in many people's eyes he is inexorably linked with the current state of West Indies cricket. Others on the board, especially in the commercial and marketing departments, are also under the spotlight.

The board, a naturally secretive beast, opened Pandora's Box with it's decision to bring in Lucky to investigate the sponsorship dealings. However much it might now want to keep the bulk of his findings under wraps, the information is in the public domain and it will need to deal with the consequences - and to do so in the full glare of the public. Only then can West Indies cricket start to draw a line under the past and look towards building for the future.