The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has condemned remarks made by West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Director and Hilary Beckles, in which he unfairly compares former West Indies Captain, Christopher Gayle to Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

WIPA has also written to the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) requesting an investigation by UWI since Beckles holds a most senior position at that institution and is involved with several cricket-related activities within the UWI including considerable responsibility for the High-Performance Centre and the Combined Campuses and Colleges Cricket team.

WIPA specifically referred to an excerpt from a public statement made by Beckles on the subject, ‘Frank Worrell: The Rise and Fall of West Indies Cricket’

“Frank Worrell is the Father of the Nation, Sobers is the King of Cricket, Clive Lloyd is the Statesman, Richards is the General of the Army, Brian Lara is the Prince, and Chris Gayle is the Don. And these are very interesting images indeed because the movement from the father to the Don and, and those who follow him and his cohort in the team do relate to him as their Don, and he has brought it is said, the Don-manship into how ‘tings’ operate in the team, and what the West Indies Board is trying to do at the moment is to uproot this Don-manship out of the culture in much the same way that the Jamaican people are trying to uproot Dudus from their politics…this West Indies Under-19 team is some interesting collection of very smart and bright young men and there is a different quality of personality at the moment. They do not wish to be like Chris Gayle, they do not wish to be like am, ah, Marlon Samuels,” Beckles is reported as saying.

WIPA called for the immediate resignation or expulsion of Beckles from the WICB and any further dealings with West Indies Cricket.  

“The organisation and its members would find it difficult to have any confidence in a person who appears blatantly prejudiced against some of the players and who, because he is both a WICB Director and Principal of one of our regional university campuses, is in a position to make decisions that affect their livelihood and their ability to represent their countries and region.  We are convinced that his remarks about Mr Gayle could do tremendous damage to Mr Gayle’s reputation and future relationships with members of the Jamaica and West Indies teams,” A WIPA statement said.

WIPA was also upset about the reference to Marlon Samuels who has recently be recalled to the West Indies team after serving a two-year ban for improper contact with an Indian bookmaker.

“These words have gone into the public domain and as a result Mr Samuels has been held up to ridicule,” WIPA said.