00:00With all the problems already happening in West Indies cricket, could there be any other issues yet unresolved?
00:06Well, CEO of Cricket West Indies, Chris Dering, has had his hands full outing fires.
00:12In the immediate, that involves paying players.
00:15Can you confirm that, Mr. Dering, that today you were able to pay the players?
00:22I know that was outstanding. I know that they called and they weren't very happy about that.
00:27But good news, you're able to pay the outstanding monies. Is that right, Chris? Can you confirm that?
00:33Well, we're always trying to prioritize player payments. That is a policy within Cricket West Indies.
00:39So as soon as cash flow allows, we usually pay their fees first.
00:44So that would have taken place today.
00:47As per norm, there's always a lag between when the players play and when payments are made.
00:53Right. OK, well, so that's very good news indeed.
00:57It's not just the salaries. It's resolving matters with member associations as well.
01:02You know, the Super 50 tournament 2024, I've been hearing that you were able to,
01:08but we're trying to reach an agreement with Barbados, as you know, Barbados took the matter to court.
01:14What's the latest on that, Chris? Can you tell me?
01:16We're still in discussions with the Barbados Cricket Association, but we're obviously trying to settle it off here.
01:23This is something that happened even before my time.
01:25So you want to get rid of these little niggling disagreements as quickly as possible.
01:31OK, right. Well, I'm hearing that an offer was made to the Barbados Cricket Association that was refused this.
01:38Is that true?
01:38Well, I don't think we can discuss and negotiate with the Barbados Cricket Association in public.
01:44We continue to have discussions with our friendly shareholders.
01:49Indeed.
01:50Questions were also asked about the money in the bank under the previous administration as compared to now.
01:56What happened between when Johnny Graves said that things were looking good and now?
02:01Can you tell me, Chris?
02:02Well, of course. Listen, I never try and second guess the circumstances.
02:08Now, prior executives would have taken various decisions because, you know, I wasn't in that circumstance.
02:15I wasn't in this situation.
02:17And therefore, I don't second guess what other managers would have done.
02:22Dering says there's a misunderstanding when it comes to the interpretation of their balance sheet.
02:27I guess the weaknesses of the Caribbean is even how the Caribbean understands how to read a financial report.
02:34I remember seeing a report in the newspapers about an 80-odd million dollar windfall for Cricket West India.
02:41And it was kind of, if it wasn't so tragic, it would be funny because, sure, you know, you need
02:47to understand the difference between revenue and profit.
02:50You can get $88 million of revenue, but if it takes you $60-odd million of expenses to get that
02:57$88 million of revenue, you're only going to make $20 million or so of profit.
03:02So there was no $80 million that I could add.
03:06Certainly that I would have found when I came to Cricket West Indies.
03:09Now, all he has to do is solve the debt crisis facing West Indies cricket as he dishes out his
03:15plans for 2027.
03:17Sergio DeFore, TV6 Sport.
