Caricom to look into Gayle's spat with board

Basseterre, St. Kitts: Caricom (Caribbean Community) heads of government will accede to former West Indies captain Chris Gayle's request to intervene in the festering dispute between him and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), it was announced here.

New Caricom chairman Denzil Douglas, the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, said it had been decided to revive the Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on Cricket to try and broker a deal between Gayle and the WICB.

"Today we had to take certain decisions with regards to the impasse that seems to be ongoing between the regional players association and the WICB," Douglas told the CMC Sports Wire on Sunday in an interview on the final day of the Caricom Summit.

Vehicles of cricket

"We believe that West Indies cricket has not been one of the vehicles of which the Caribbean man today can be proud of moving himself upwards."

He added: "We have had some serious challenges. In fact, we have had to reactivate the Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on Cricket in order to see if we could understand the differences between the two parties, and how we can advance a true cause for West Indies cricket."

The decision came on the heels of Guyanese President Bharat Jagdeo calling on his counterparts to grant Gayle his request.

Gayle released a statement on Friday lamenting his continued exclusion from the West Indies team.

The left-handed opener said the situation warranted the intervention of the regional heads of government.

Gayle's signal to Caricom comes after a meeting with top WICB officials in Jamaica last month failed to resolve the standoff.

A subsequent WICB directors meeting also failed to find a solution, with the Board stating only that its management "will continue efforts to resolve the issues with Mr Gayle".