NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Antiguans protest rejection of Richards

Scores of angry Antiguans marched through the streets of the capital in St John's on Thursday to protest a decision not to appoint Sir Vivian Richards as coach of the West Indies cricket team.

The protest march came two days after the West Indies Cricket Board named former off-spinning all-rounder Roger Harper - who played 25 Tests and 105 limited-overs internationals in a 12-year career from 1983 to 1995 - as coach for a three-year period from March 1.

Harper was preferred to Sir Vivian by the Board.

Protestors bearing placards that read "The Board Must Go", "No Board, No Viv", "To Sir, With Love" and "Love Vivi, Hate the Board" marched from the WICBs office around St John's and as far as the Prime Minister's office under the watchful eyes of the police.

A spokesman for the group said they were seeking an apology from the WICB for the way the appointment was communicated to Sir Vivian by a junior official rather than by the WICBs chief executive officer Steve Camacho.

A delegation representing the group was hoping to meet with Camacho on Thursday, but was informed that he was unwell.

Police Commissioner Truehart Smith reported that the march, for which permission was not sought, was incident-free. He said, however, that on Wednesday a WICB signboard had been defaced - apparently by someone angered by the decision to appoint Harper.

Sir Vivian, the former West Indies captain, is the Caribbeans leading scorer in Tests with 8,540 runs and has the distinction of never losing a series.

Meanwhile, Richards, the former West Indies cricket captain, is disappointed at losing out to Harper for the post of coach, but he says he will give him his full support.

Richards, coach of the side for the ill-starred tour of New Zealand, where West Indies lost two Tests and all five limited-overs internationals, has promised to support Harper.

"I am disappointed, but I believe that we have to give support and get behind whoever is selected," Richards told the Antigua Sun newspaper.

He added: "The most important thing is West Indies cricket and we can never, ever forget the objective, which is the success of the team. The important thing to remember is that West Indies cricket is much bigger than individuals who make the decisions."

Richards' mother and other Antiguan fans were angry at Tuesday's decision to overlook the West Indies leading scorer in Tests for Harper and his assistant Jeff Dujon.

"I am finished with West Indies cricket," Richards' mother Grathel told the newspaper.

"Not even my radio will be turned to Test cricket or anything that has to do with the West Indies. This man put so much into West Indies cricket. He was a team man, a West Indian man, and this is what they do to him."

Steve Camacho, the West Indies Cricket Board's chief executive officer, said Harper was the most well-rounded and qualified candidate of those interviewed at the WICBs headquarters in Antigua last weekend.