Carib community steps in to sort out Gayle-WICB dispute

With the dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and Chris Gayle showing no signs of ending soon, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government have stepped in to try and work out a solution.

CARICOM chairman Dr Denzil Douglas said the heads of government have decided to intervene after Gayle's latest outburst in which he accused WICB chairman Ernest Hilaire of trying to finish his career.

The WICB reacted angrily to the allegation, claiming it was Gayle who was antagonistic and rigid.

"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.

"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.

CARICOM's announcement came close on the heels of Guyana President Bharat Jagdeo's criticism of the WICB.

"It comes back to who owns West Indian cricket," Jagdeo said.

"The board thinks it owns West Indian cricket, my belief is that it belongs to all of us, the people of this region.

"(In) many countries, when you have failures consistently, the board goes because sometimes they are the problem. Here it does not seem as if this is going to happen.

"Chris Gayle is being treated unfairly by the WICB. You can't not tell him anything, he needs to earn too and then you have a tour coming up and when he goes off, he gets another contract then you're concerned that he has left the region."

The dispute between Gayle and WICB goes back to his injury problems after the World Cup. He had accused the Board of abandoning him during the crisis, an allegation that was refuted by the WICB.

Gayle was eventually dropped from the team for the ongoing series against India. The two warring parties did meet a couple of times to sort out the differences but couldn't agree on anything.