Julian Hunte has been president of the West Indies Cricket Board since 2007 when he succeeded Trinidad media magnate Ken Gordon.
Since then Hunte has presided over the WICB which has had its fair share of ups and downs.
Hunte played cricket for St Lucia before entering politics where he held a number of influential positions.
He was St Lucia’s Ambassador to the United Nations and was chairman of the United Nations General Assembly in 2003 and 2004.
He was re-elected to the post of WICB president in 2009 and 2011 the WICB has been credited with several new initiatives like the Digicel Grassroots programme and for revitalizing existing programmes such as the Scotia bank Kiddy’s cricket programme to name a few.
For Hunte, like his predecessors, it has not been altogether smooth sailing, in fact, quite the opposite as there have been constant battles with the West Indies Players Association.
Earlier this year it was reported that Hunte would not be seeking reelection at next month’s Annual General Meeting but that notion has since been cleared up.
Hunte it was reported on Monday will be challenged by his vice president Whycliffe Cameron for the top post after Guyana’s nominee Clive Lloyd nomination by the Guyana Cricket Board failed to be seconded.
Recently Hunte sat down with Stabroek Sports’ Donald Duff for a brief interview on whether he plans to run again for the WICB top post, the standard of regional cricket, its finances and the Guyana situation.
Following is the interview.
DD: I did see an article in the Barbados Sun (newspaper) that you would not be contesting the post of presidency of the WICB and I was wondering if that is indeed so. Would you care to comment on whether you would be running for the presidency again at the upcoming AGM.
JH: I will be running for the presidency at the AGM. I’ve been persuaded by a number of persons to run and I concur that there are a number of things still to be done in order to ensure the stability that is required in West Indies cricket. I will stay on if the members determine that I should for another couple of years.
DD: How would you characterize your term of office so far?
JH: I think it’s been exciting; I think I came in at a period when we were at an all time low and I think we’ve worked hard to put together an infrastructure which is still to be completed. I don’t want anybody to feel that the job has been done as yet; there is still a lot of work to be done but I feel excited about what we have achieved so far and the prospects for West Indies Cricket going forward. I hope that at the Annual General Meeting, I will be making some statements as it relates to what I inherited; what we’ve been able to achieve; and where I think we need to go. And that, I think, will set the tone in terms of how we go forward in West Indies cricket. But it’s a journey that started over eight years ago and it’s continuing. I am charged with holding the baton and I would wish that when I pass the baton on, I pass something on that someone could run forward with and go forward with in a meaningful way.
DD: I know the senior team won the recent ICC T20 tournament, the first tournament won in 33 years. How do you feel about that? Do you think that you need to turn your attention a little bit to the test team to ensure that they have similar type of success?
JH: I think we’re a little ahead of time. Thank God we won the T20. One of our goals was in 2015 or is, to win the One Day international, the 50 overs (ICC World Cup tournament) and we’re continuing to work on that. The test team is also important, important in the sense that you will note that we now have a two-test tournament with Pakistan and the whole idea is to try to get more involved with that because of the test team championships, because the ultimate is the test and we really want to work on that but the point that I really want to make is that what I am concerned about during my term of office is the development, putting in structures for the development of West Indies Cricket such as the High Performance Centre. One of the things that I pledge to do is the Satellite High Performance Centres. A number of areas that we are involved in, the Strategic Plan and so on, all of those things are designed to create a platform for us to move forward so that `yes Julian Hunte is no longer president’ but there is a platform for West Indies cricket to go forward It is something that has been absent in my personal, humble view in the past that we are trying to put in place. So if you are saying, `Julian, what would you like to be known as your greatest achievement? ‘I’d say we will look at trying to ensure that we have a platform and infrastructure for the development of cricket so that we can go on for another eight years. Our cricket must survive the political and other challenges that exist right now, so that we can proceed in a fashion that would make it possible for us and the other thing that is important to me, I really would like to see the West Indies team become a little more competitive than it is. Competitive in the sense because that is when we are competitive that is when we begin to score points particularly in terms of people saying well `look West Indies what do you want?’ and if you have a deficiency financially or otherwise `can we help you?’.
DD: Do you think we need to raise the standard of regional cricket in order for the test team to do well.
JH: We have a lot of work to do there. We have a lot of work to do with regional cricket and the West Indies cricket board in the period going forward has to concentrate on territorial boards and regional cricket. That is where the action is because as far as West Indies cricket is concerned, I think we have gone as far as we can. There is still a lot of work to be done but where we are at now is to look at the development of cricket in the territorial boards that do not have money, who do not have the resources; who cannot find the resources in order to deal with it. To look at the governance of territorial boards and to ensure that they are empowered to participate in a meaningful way with the development process. I am excited about that.
DD: You’ve just mentioned finance. What is the state of the finances of the West Indies Board?
JH: Finance is okay except that we continue to fluctuate. When we have an India tour we make a lot of money. When we have an English tour, we make money. Other than that, we lose money. So let’s say for the last financial year we lost about US14 million dollars but when we have say an Indian tour we would make about US20 million dollars.
DD: Finally, your thoughts on the Guyana situation?
JH: The problem with the Guyana situation is not between the West Indies Cricket Board and Guyana. The problem with Guyana’s cricket is between the Guyana government and the GCB (Guyana Cricket Board). We have been trying to straddle the two in order to keep Guyana cricket alive and to ensure that its valuable asset that we have in the players is not lost. I think we have reached a stage where West Indies cricket really needs to intervene and this is the stage that we are at and I am hoping that we will be able to do this in the very near future. We don’t have the time for me to outline to you what the problems have been. But it is one of the most unfortunate situations that I have come across in my tenure in West Indies cricket. The Guyana Cricket Board is a shareholder of West Indies cricket the Guyana government is a stakeholder in West Indies cricket. West Indies cricket is not involved in politics. What we want to do is to ensure that whatever problem that there is, is resolved without damaging the structure of cricket and if we are guilty of anything, it is that, so that with all that is going on you still have Guyana cricket involved. What we are interested in is cricket – the future and survival of West Indies cricket – not politics. So if we err, it is because we don’t want to get into that.
DD:-is this problem unique to Guyana alone.
JH:-Yes! That is the only problem that we have because I mean there is no other country that is involved in this and we have a mandate, a remit from the ICC not to allow politics to be involved. But I have the greatest respect for the government of Guyana and all the governments of the Caribbean who are stakeholders. In fact, going down the road, looking at the future of West Indies cricket, the governments have a serious role to play in our development not only to try and solve problems when they exist let us say between WIPA (West Indies Players Association) and ourselves but also to look at the development of our youth cricket in schools. We must have their involvement. Now we have the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and we need to ensure that we maximize what we can earn and gain from it in the interest of the development of West Indies Cricket.
