BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies Cricket Board president Dave Cameron believes the success or failure of his tenure will be based on the regional side’s results on the pitch.
The Jamaican businessman, who beat incumbent Julian Hunte for the top post back in March, will travel to England shortly to watch West Indies contest the ICC Champions Trophy.
For Cameron, the June 6-23 tournament will be the first for the team under his presidency and he said their performances would ultimately be a reflection of his leadership.
“We want the players to understand this is a partnership and that is how I am treating the players [and] the players association,” Cameron told CMC Sports in an exclusive interview.
“They (players) are our most valuable assets. Without them the organisation is nothing and anything that I am able to achieve in my presidency will be as a result of what we were able to achieve on the field.”
He stressed: “Let’s just understand that. If we don’t win, if we’re not more consistent on the field then they’re going to say the president has failed so that’s very clear to me.
“I have to have a partnership with them, that my looking good is as a result of what they do at the end of the day, so I need to understand what are the things that I need to do better to get them to perform better.”
West Indies will be looking to add the ICC Champions Trophy to their Twenty20 World Cup title captured last October when they beat hosts Sri Lanka in the final of that tournament.
They have been installed in a tough Group B labelled as the “group of death”, where they will play alongside the likes of reigning World Cup champions India, South Africa and Pakistan.
Despite the nature of the challenge, Cameron believes the Windies have the strength and quality players capable of winning the tournament.
“Hopefully they will allow me to hoist the trophy in England because I will be there. But I am not even bothering to go to the preliminary games because I don’t need to go to those ones so I’ll be there hoisting the trophy [at the end],” Cameron quipped.
“I think we stand a very good chance. We have the calibre players but it is how do we get everybody to work together and with that said, I think I have given as much support – the Board has given enough support – to the management team, to the structure to allow them to win.”
Since taking over the helm of West Indies cricket in March, Cameron said he had be reviewing the various components of the regional game and the quality of the Windies team management had stood out.
He said one of his main aims was to continue to improve the structure so that players continued to excel.
“I am very impressed by how the team management unit operates, all of the processes and how they go about their things,” he explained.
“Some of my concerns remain how we deal with our retained players so those are some of the things I am trying to ensure now, that once our players are engaged by the West Indies Cricket Board or any territorial board for that matter, that we have resources in place to ensure that they go to work, they have all the resources and that there is management and supervision.”
Cameron met with the squad during their camp at the 3Ws Oval last week, before they left for the United Kingdom.
