Today the directors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will sit to vote for a president and a vice-president that will oversee the next term of cricket in the Caribbean.
Dave Cameron who has come under heat for a couple of things in the past few months will be receiving a challenge from the former Test player Joel 'Big Bird' Garner. Cameron's running mate and incumbent vice-president Emmanual Nanton will get a challenge from Baldath Mahabir of T&T.
While I understand that Cameron has made some errors in his last stint at the helm, I must admit that a number of things under his leadership pointed to a movement away from the rut that we were in for the past 20 years.
I did not approve of the way Cameron handled the Indian debacle and the re-tweet concerning Chris Gayle, but I did like what I was seeing in terms of the Professional Cricket League (PCL), the aggressiveness at the Sagicor High Performance Centre, the appreciation of past players, the use of past players, the increased number of men on retainers, and an increase in sponsorship attention.
While many might not like the approach of the new cricket development general Richard Pybus, I think that his ideas are workable and in the best interest of cricket. It was his idea to have the PCL and to invite movement of players across the region, in an effort to copy the English blueprint.
We seem not yet ready for his type of thinking because if you look at the approach taken by the territorial boards, only two men were playing for countries other than their countries of birth. Ramnaresh Sarwan was snapped up by the T&T Red Force (short lived) and Raymond Reifer got on board the Guyana Jaguars.
Part of the rationale behind the movement of players was to strengthen weak teams, so that the quality of play would have been greater. The Leewards, for example, the weakest team in the region at the moment, kept the same players and did not try to go out and get some big name players to boost their squad.
While I am all for paying players and paying them well (the efforts of the former West Indies Players Association chief, Dinanath Ramnarine, getting value for players must be appreciated), I think it is utterly sad and disturbing to give men who account to no one a monthly salary.
What is there in the players' retainer contracts obligates them having to report to anyone during or at the end of the month? Are they being paid to just turn up for matches? Well the boards should then save money and just pay them pay-for-play. We might have the best intentions with these new shots in the arm for development but it makes no sense if there are no follow ups.
I cannot expect the T&T Guardian to pay me if I don't report to my superiors and the players must understand this. If there are no follow-ups then the players will be left on their own and development would not take place.
I want to suggest to the WICB, that they use their territorial development officers to monitor the work done by these players on a monthly basis to ensure value for money. In addition these guys will be able to point out areas of help that the players can benefit from.
The players have to realise what professionalism means; they can't just get up one day and decide to pull out a tour because they are unhappy. Whether or not they have good cause, if they know what professionalism is, they would understand that you finish your duties and then deal with the issues.
If I had gotten 25 cents for every time someone tells me the players should not have walked off the tour, I would have bought Gulf City Mall by now. It was an international shame and one that could have been avoided if both sides had taken the professional approach.
So when the goodly gentlemen of the WICB sit this weekend they will be speaking development and they will be getting reports from many committees within the board and one hopes that they take a good look at what is before them and seek to get it working.
We cannot afford cosmetic work at the moment; we need a makeover. There are good ideas floating around and we need to buckle them down and look to get value from them. Look I am happy with copying the English, their domestic cricket is in good stead but please if we are copying don't let us copy halfway, copy properly.