St. John's (Antigua), Nov 7 (IANS/CMC): The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) denied media reports that Richie Richardson was fired as manager of the West Indies team.

A report appearing in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper said Richardson, a former Windies captain, was axed as manager and replaced by his former team-mate and former manager Joel Garner, reports CMC.

However, a WICB statement released Thursday following a meeting of the Board of Directors by teleconference said the report was inaccurate.

“The WICB wishes to make it explicitly clear that contrary to media reports, Sir Richie Richardson has not been removed as Team Manager of the West Indies Team," the release said.

Richardson was the manager of the team that aborted the tour to India recently, a decision which angered the Board of Control for Cricket in Indian (BCCI) forcing it to cancel tours to the Caribbean and to demand compensation of $42 million.

The WICB says that a debriefing of the Windies team management following the shortened tour of India has been carded for Tuesday in Antigua.