Caricom’s Regional Cricket Conference last week provided a necessary conversation on West Indies cricket. While the cost to taxpayers and the scrutiny that comes with hosting the two-day event rightfully emerged, the conference itself provided a basis for where West Indies cricket is right now and where it needs to go.
The conference did not provide anything novel since, as alluded to several times over both days, there have been several reports on West Indies cricket’s organisation completed by some of the finest minds the Caribbean has produced.
What the conference allowed was for stakeholders, including regional leaders, former players, administrators and even enthusiasts, to be part of a wide-ranging conversation on the game.
To those who follow the game closely, not much of it was new but there were sobering perspectives that allowed the charting of a way forward for the regional game.
Governance emerged as the key theme of the event, and it is this aspect that has been ignored throughout the history of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) board. In an impassioned address on the opening morning, fast-bowling legend Michael Holding, noting current CWI boss Dr Kishore Shallow’s failure to get his board to focus on restructuring the game, urged regional leaders to exert pressure on the board to ensure this gets done.
This was an enormous statement from a well-respected Caribbean man. However, that pressure must be fit for purpose. If Caricom and CWI are to pursue governance changes, it must be done in a well-thought-out and professional manner that will create a watertight constitution that allows future boards to operate in an effective and transparent manner. This procedure must re-instil confidence from players to spectators.
Throughout the two days, stakeholders also sounded the alarm over the rise in popularity of cricket in the North American market, noting they fear it will lure our players with vast sums of cash and leave a carcass behind in Caribbean cricket. That concern is real and valid.
However, CWI must find a way to infiltrate American cricket through partnerships and other means, including the university system. We simply cannot compete with the American market because we are too small and in fact, still operate with a semi-professional psyche in a professional game.
According to Forbes, the injection of investment in US cricket is coming from billionaire Indian businessmen working in Silicon Valley. We do not have that in the Caribbean. Added to this, it makes finding a middle ground between players and administrators, when it comes to playing for the West Indies and playing in global T20/T10 leagues, all too critical. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says this is Caricom’s number one priority and so it should be.
Finally, there was a lot of talk about cricket being a business in this era but not much on how to generate the money required to power this business. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley suggested a corporate board but this has to be a second priority because if CWI doesn’t find ways to generate income, it will continue to be saddled with debt, watch its best players leave for more lucrative leagues and witness the demise of its international teams.
Much of the conversations at the conference were not new but were required to begin a reset of West Indies cricket. We have been here before, but we are now running out of time.
