‘Cold shoulder’

Former Barbados captain Shaquana Quintyne says that the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has yet to reach out to her during her current injury plight.

One of the most talented female all-rounders to play international cricket for the West Indies, Quintyne got injured in 2017 while on official regional duty. After three years of agony, she said she was disappointed that no one from the BCA’s executive had reached out to offer her assistance.

In addition, she explained that former chairman for Women’s Cricket at the BCA, Hartley Reid, had spoken to cricket’s local governing body several times on her behalf, informing them of her injury but the BCA’s hierarchy had remained mum on the issue.

“Hartley Reid was sitting on the board at that time and to my knowledge, I know he would have brought up my situation to the board. So I don’t understand why people on the board are saying they don’t know about my situation.

“Hartley is not on the board anymore but when he was there Hartley brought up my situation in a lot of meetings to the BCA and it just came like another day: ‘let’s just move on’,” Quintyne said.

She maintained that the BCA knew of her situation from the inception and the plight which she faced. Quintyne added: “The BCA knew about my situation. The first people to know were the BCA. I went to the BCA and gave them the report myself in July 2017.”

It was at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua during a practice session with the West Indies women’s team that Quintyne picked up the knee injury that has brought an abrupt end to an international career that started at the tender age of 15. She had operations performed on the torn cruciate ligaments in her right knee in Barbados, Jamaica and Canada and now suffers from osteoarthritis. Quintyne was a contracted player with CWI at the time she was injured but lost her contract a couple months following the incident.

In May, CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave stated that Quintyne had been provided with financial support during her surgical procedures and rehabilitation while she was under contract with the board. This, he said, had been extended for a period after her contract was not renewed.

But even though she has had the surgery on the right knee, Quintyne continues to suffer and is unable to do much for herself. The 24-year-old noted that since she spoke to the media about the agonising pain she had to endure from 2017 until currently, CWI has still made no efforts to contact her. Since being cut off by CWI, Quintyne has been forced to foot the bills for her ongoing physical therapy which have been burdensome.

When contacted, BCA president Conde Riley told Barbados TODAY the association could not get involved in the situation because it was now a legal matter. But on a personal level, he said the BCA planned to get in contact with Quintyne to see what she needed and to offer assistance where possible.

But while Quintyne has a legal situation with CWI, she has had no legal issue with the BCA.

“We would love to get involved but she was being paid by Cricket West Indies. When her contract expired they were looking after her surgery. Then I heard there was some sort of legal matter going on and we were advised not to get involved because of that. But we plan, once we can speak to her, to find out exactly what is going on, so as to assist in any way we can,” Riley said.

Quintyne also told Barbados TODAY she had reached out to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) for assistance following her injury but none was forthcoming. She said WIPA contacted her on January 3, 2019, to wish her happy birthday and that was all. She said that following a story last week on SportsMax by Donald Oliver and also carried by Barbados TODAY highlighting her situation, she was contacted by the WIPA secretary who told her the association could do nothing for her because she had a lawyer dealing with her situation.

Efforts to get a comment on the legal standing of both the BCA and CWI from attorney-at-law and BCA board member Gregory Nicholls has proven futile. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb