WICB loses case to Digicel

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has lost its case with telecommunications company Digicel in London\'s High Court over the staging of the Stanford US$20 million match next month.



The ruling puts the lucrative fixture between England and Sir Allen Stanford\'s Caribbean team in doubt since the WICB is now forced to withdraw its sanction for the November 1 match in Antigua.



The WICB had entered into a contract with Stanford to make all their players available for the event, but Digicel challenged the staging of the event under the conditions and won.



As official sponsors of the West Indies team, Digicel wanted a larger slice of the publicity and marketing surrounding the match, which is being organised by Stanford, the Antigua-based Texan billionaire.



The court ruled that the WICB should remove its sanction for the game, as not doing so would put it in breach of contract with Digicel.



The ruling added that no West Indians on central contracts could play, meaning that regular first-choice players, including stars like captain Chris Gayle and batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, would be barred from playing.



WICB chief executive Dr. Donald Peters said at this point the board is trying to evaluate what the terms of the ruling are before making any statement.