Holding angrily dismisses Gordon accusations

Michael Holding: 'One of us is having difficulty differentiating fact from fiction and I will leave the public to decide which one it is' © Getty Images

Michael Holding has reacted angrily to comments made by Ken Gordon, the West Indies board chairman, regarding his recent resignation from the board's cricket committee.

On Monday, Gordon dismissed allegations made by Holding, adding: "I regret that one whom I have long admired as one of our cricketing greats should have so readily descended to personal abuse and even defamation without regard to the facts."

But Holding told Cricinfo: "I have this to say. Ken Gordon asked me to be a part of one committee and one committee only. What was supposed to be a "cricket committee" which he refers to as an advisory committee. If this was rejected by the WICB, then when did he ask me to be a part of this "Win World Cup" committee?

"I was never asked to be a part of any committee but a cricket committee - or as Gordon puts it an advisory committee - and when that was changed, both Clive Lloyd and myself declined to be a part of it. The WICB's own press release on August 22, 2005 states this as a fact. Now one of us is having difficulty differentiating fact from fiction and I will leave the public to decide which one it is.

"Whichever one it is, my resignation is a good thing. If I am the one having the problem, then the WICB should be glad to be rid of me as it shouldn't want anyone with such a serious problem on its committee. If Ken Gordon is the one with the problem, then I don't want to be on any committee of an organisation lead by someone with such a serious problem as you never know when it may crop up again So, both scenarios present positives for either myself or the WICB."