It will cost the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) US$1M to host two English clubs for the upcoming regional T20 cricket series. A source close to the WICB said the board will be forking out close to US$1M in order to have Hampshire and Somerset, the English T20 champions play in the regional tournament. This figure will include their participation fees, as well as travel in business class and accommodation.
According to the source: “The board stands to lose US$3M in this tournament and couple this with the US$2M they lost last year in staging the regional T20 series and this brings to a total US$5M in losses.
“The WICB needs to find sponsors for regional cricket as it is costing too much to go alone and in the end, the tournaments have to be trimmed in order to be staged.
“The premier tournament in the region, which is the first class series is also un-sponsored and this was trimmed because the board could not afford to stage a longer tournament. This affects development of the players and our regional season even in the best of times, is one of the shortest among the Test nations.”
The source added that bringing in the English teams at this time was not a good move, as the board should have realised that they are going unsponsored and it was a waste of money.
“They have no sponsors and I don’t see the need at this point in time to bring in the English teams. This money that they are losing should be spent in strengthening the first class series instead and bringing it up to the standard of the other Test playing nations.
“I am not saying for once that the foreign competition is not good, what I am saying is that this is not the right time to be spending close to US$1M, when we already have money problems.
“Also the board needs to work harder in gaining sponsorships for our regional tournaments. While sponsorship is very hard to come by these days, it is very disappointing that the board cannot find a sponsor for not even one of our tournaments.” (Trinidad Guardian)
