I was recently invited to attend the CARICOM Regional Cricket Conference with the title “Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket - A Symposium for Strategic Collaboration and Innovation.”
Interesting indeed. Whoever coined the title for the conference was spot on, but as someone asked me before the start of the conference, “...is this going to be one of those conferences where there are a lot of talks, and everyone has a say and nothing comes out of it?” I sincerely hoped not and went in with an open mind, believing that those who spoke did it with sincerity and honesty, forgetting relationships, not caring whose toes were mashed because one of the biggest problems facing West Indies cricket is covering up for one another’s mishaps.
In the end, it seems to always come down to what a person can bring to the table to get the support of Country A to vote for them when it comes to elections. They need the vote of that person or body — no matter what. Indeed, the vote is important to them, and it is sad where we have reached. This sort of bartering does not only happen at the Cricket West Indies (CWI) level but more so at the territorial board level. How many times have we heard stories where people go into an election and are promised positions in exchange for a vote? Unfortunately, it happens all the time, going back at least 15 years. At the territorial board level, people were handed positions based on how they voted, and it did not matter if the person could do a job; that was irrelevant as the most important aspect of the person was the ability to buy the vote and keep that person happy. When the next election came around, one vote was already secured. Don’t be surprised, as I have personally seen and experienced that level of bartering and dishonesty in getting their friends and associates into positions.
The conference itself opened up with T&T’s Prime Minister and Chair of CARICOM’s Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket, Dr. Keith Rowley, giving an overview of the conference and pulling no punches on the state of West Indies cricket and stating that the parties in attendance were gathered to fix West Indies cricket. However, articulating this was just a start to try and get things right. Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley spoke as one of the regional leaders to give remarks, and, as usual, she was at her eloquent best. She was fiery, but you had to sit up and take notice when she spoke. She is one of the best speakers on the world stage; she does not have to shout at the top of her voice; she sticks to her points and makes them with a type of remarkable fluency that can only be admired. Her two main points were separating the business of cricket and the development of cricket. Another one of her points was the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) contract. She wanted to get her eyes on the contract, as she said, “A contract that is so unequally yoked ought not to stand for 50 years. That’s a half a century.” When I first heard about the CPL contract years ago, I wondered why someone would sign a contract for 50 years unless there were some underlying issues and promises not written into the contract.
Then came some virtual presentations by some legends of the game. Sir Andy Roberts, as expected, opened the bowling but was not at his best. He lamented the state of West Indies cricket but seemed to be holding back on what he wanted to say, which was a pity because he always said whatever came to his mind about West Indies cricket.
Enter Sir Vivian Richards, another one who has, over the years, been critical about West Indies cricket, but like Sir Andy, seemed to be holding back and was just touching on the outskirts as to the reasons why West Indies is in the position it is today. To me, he spent most of the time wishing something positive would come out of the conference.
Enter a very emotional and passionate Michael “Whispering Death” Holding. He reminded me of when he was gliding in to bowl, delivering bouncer after bouncer, and suddenly threw in a yorker. Rightfully, he called on the CWI to stop the madness with the territorial boards and their people and get West Indies cricket back to where it belongs. He lamented the controversy with firstly the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) and begged the CWI to straighten out those problems, clean up the mess, or at least respond to the issues. On the verge of tears, he called on the Caribbean heads of government to pressure the CWI board into restructuring its governance model.
CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe spoke at length about the cricket and performance framework. I previously brought up the 4-day tournament, asking for a longer regional competition as some younger players are just waiting around for a call to play cricket since the season ended on April 20th. Those players will sit around somewhere until the Super 50 or, if they are lucky, to be selected on some West Indies team. Bascombe does, however, appear to be very happy with what is taking place on the regional front with the red ball game.
An interesting panel discussion was had on the West Indies Players Association; however, one point was that Acts of Parliament should be amended to require regional boards to be structured transparently and accountable. Well, I suppose we should not hold our breaths on that even though, based on what is going on currently, such a suggestion makes perfect sense.
The CPL contract took a lot of blows from all sides. It was heartening to hear that CPL CEO Pete Russell was willing to come to the table to review certain aspects of the existing contract between them and CWI. The first one seated at the table would be Mia Mottley and all of the West Indies can feel comfortable with whatever new is put on the table.
As it started, the conference was closed off by Dr Rowley, who touched on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that West Indies cricket faced. He spoke about mentorship, a commercial and developmental arm of West Indies cricket, structure of territorial boards, but, most importantly, assured that there will be a follow-up meeting to discuss what came out of this symposium and to implement some recommendations. One can only hope that he is correct so I can answer some fans and say that it was not just talk, but some action will come out of the 2 days.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in the preceding article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation in which he is a stakeholder.