linkPresident of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) Dinanath Ramnarine has come out in defence of T&T and West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons, saying that he never refused to meet with chairman of the selection committee Clyde Butts. Ramnarine produced evidence yesterday at his offices on Edward Street, which indicated that Simmons was in contact with Butts but the meeting never materialised. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) indicated on Wednesday that Simmons had promised to meet with Butts but failed to do so and offered no explanation. Ramnarine refuted this saying: “Butts called Simmons around 3pm on May 31 and said he would like to meet with him at 5pm, to discuss his issues. Simmons told him he had a family matter to deal with and could meet at 7pm. Even if Simmons did not have a family matter, he would have been hard pressed to come into town for 5pm, since he lives in Arima.
“Butts then told him he cannot meet at 7pm, as he had to leave at 6pm for the airport and promised coach Ottis Gibson would call him. Simmons is still awaiting that call.” Ramnarine produced an audio clip with former West Indies selector Raphick Jumadeen confirming Simmons’ version of the incidence. Jumadeen’s extract was taken from an interview he did on i95.5fm.
Ramnarine pointed out if the WICB really wanted to meet with Simmons, they had sufficient time since then. He charged that the WICB wanted to operate in an adhoc manner and is now blaming WIPA wrongfully. “The WICB is saying WIPA doesn’t want to meet with them but this ia far from the truth. Any right thinking person would see that it was WIPA who asked for a meeting.
this it getting sweet...ah can't wait for WICB response...get on it Imran
