The controversy engulfing West Indies cricket worsened yesterday when former Antigua prime minister Lester Bird blasted the sport’s regional administrators, describing them as incompetent and accused them of punishing Jamaica because estranged batsman Chris Gayle has been selected for national duty.

Bird, who is also a former member of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), bluntly told WICB director Dr Ernest Hilaire that he lacks diplomacy and he does not have equal status with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Bird’s caustic criticisms come after the WICB had issued what was deemed an “inappropriate” response to Simpson Miller’s comments on the Gayle issue as well as the exclusion of Jamaica as a venue for the upcoming Australia tour of the Caribbean.

The WICB’s declaration that Simpson Miller was not aware of the facts relating to the matter angered the Jamaican prime minister who described the response as rude.

Since then, WICB President Julian Hunte has requested a meeting with Simpson Miller in which he is expected to apologise. That meeting is expected to take place this week.

Yesterday, Bird, in a lengthy statement, told Hilaire that the WICB’s response to Simpson Miller was disrespectful. “You and the prime minister of Jamaica are not of the same rank. If you wish to be involved in matters of this level you need some advice or training in diplomacy,” said Bird. “We must maximise the power of cricket as an integrating force and use it to bind us as Caribbean people, not divide us.”

Bird also urged the WICB to reinstate Gayle and said the “scheduling of the forthcoming Australian tour provides ample evidence of an organisation that suffers from both incompetence and insensitivity”.

He pointed out that three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) are to be played in St Vincent; three in St Lucia and a Test match in Dominica. “In other words, over 50 per cent of the matches would be played in a grouping whose population represents less than eight per cent of the cricket-loving population of the Englishspeaking Caribbean,” said Bird.

“If the argument is the cost, then it is improbable to think that a third One-Day in St Lucia, or a third One-Day in St Vincent would be more profitable than a single One-Day in a more populated country such as Jamaica or even Antigua. Given the fact that Jamaica is so far in the north and it is costly for Jamaicans to travel to the other parts of the Caribbean, I think that Jamaica should always be included in a touring cricket itinerary,” he said.

“It does appear that true to the management style of the West Indies Cricket Board it is a decision to punish Jamaica for its decision to pick Gayle for national duty. This schedule is blatantly insensitive and irrational.”

Gayle has not played for the West Indies since the ICC World Cup in Asia last year following a quarrel with the cricket authorities. The WICB Secretariat is demanding that Gayle — arguably the most sought after player in professional twenty-20 leagues around the world — apologise for remarks he made last year about Windies coach Otis Gibson and the WICB.

But Gayle’s supporters contend that he was not given a hearing by an established disciplinary committee, and that in any case, he has been punished enough by virtue of his long absence from the West Indies team.

Yesterday, Bird was also severely critical of Gibson, saying that it was his public castigation of senior members of the team that started the problem.

“Had Gibson been a coach to an Australian team or English team or any other Test team he would never have tried that, or if he had, he would have been fired summarily,” said Bird.

“It was an act that demonstrated his lack of understanding of the art of, or skills of human relations. Naturally, the senior players reacted. Shivnarine Chanderpaul threatened to take the WICB to court, Chris Gayle made his criticisms public, and [Ramnaresh] Sarwan’s self confidence has been badly affected and probably permanently shattered. The root of the problem is obvious,” the former prime minister said.

He also described the current West Indies captain Darren Sammy as mediocre and unable to inspire the team.

“Sammy informed us that captaincy is overrated. In other words, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, the great Frank Worrell did not accomplish anything of note as they were carrying out a task that is largely overrated,” said Bird. “Sammy then targets 2015 for the West Indies team to be number five in the rankings. If you are driven by such a low level of self-esteem that three places up the rank in four years is an acceptable target, then the WICB also has a problem of proper planning and organisation.”

He lamented that West Indies cricket is in “a very sad state”, and suggested for the game to move forward, the WICB needed to:

• ensure that no country in the region hosts more than two tour matches;

• name a captain for each format of the game;

• find a formula to improve decision-making and for establishing accountability; and

• impose a two-term limit on the post of WICB president.