In addition to seeking a way forward in the impasse with the Guyana Government which has seen West Indies matches being pulled from this country, President of the WICB, Dave Cameron, on Wednesday evening addressed several other problematic issues.
Issues such as school cricket, pitches, selectors, the High Performance Centre (HPC) among others were brought to the forefront at the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Town Hall-styled meeting at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Pavilion. The discussions also featured WICB Vice-President Emmanuel Nanthan and local stakeholders of cricket.
Issues raised by some of the stakeholders
Concerning the Guyana cricket situation, Roger Harper, the former West Indies all-rounder suggested meetings be held with the WICB, the respective cricket boards and clubs as opposed to meetings between the government and the WICB. On the other hand, although ex-WICB Director and Chairman of National Selectors Claude Raphael endorsed the statements made by Cameron and Nanthan, he said a free and fair election process is the only way of resolving the problems. Elections for the Guyana Cricket Board have been marred for a number of years by allegations of irregularities. The WICB has taken the side of the extant executive while local stakeholders are adamantly against.
Controversies have also dogged the elections of county boards and executives of clubs.
Some club executives and members requested gear for their respective clubs but others said their primary concern is the current GCB body was not elected through the correct process. Nevertheless, Cameron responded to the various outcries by suggesting certain issues should be worked out between the respective bodies and persons should forget their personality issues and resolve matters maturely, outside of the court.
School cricket
School cricket was another area of concern that was brought up for discussion by the local stakeholders. Cameron noted a discussion with the Ministry of Sport has paved the way for the reintroduction of cricket in the school system, while he added, the WICB will commit to such an endeavour.
He also explained to the gathering, linking schools with cricket clubs in the respective areas will allow youngsters to progress from school to club to the respective national youth and senior levels and in the process, the clubs will act as mentors for the players.
WICB selectors
On the topic of WICB selectors and their accountability to the board’s executives, Cameron confirmed, the selectors were indeed accountable to their employers but noted when a selector is appointed, that person is given a two-year term and if the board is not satisfied then a change can be made.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s future
The issue of recently sacked West Indies veteran batsman Shiv Chanderpaul and his future was also discussed and much to the crowd’s delight. In his response to the issue, Cameron said for too long the WICB has been guilty of giving their players poor send-offs, therefore plans are in motion to ensure players are given the appropriate farewells, worthy of their contribution to West Indies cricket.
He noted the WICB’s plans to speak with players about exits befitting contributions made. Chanderpaul is no different, as measures are in place to have an ideal send-off for the 40 year-old batting legend who is 80 odd runs short of surpassing Brian Lara as the West Indies’s leading run-scorer.
“High Performance Centre (HPC) not scrapped”
When asked why the High Performance Centre was apparently done away with, Cameron said the HPC was still very much active through its High Performance Programme which he noted is used to identify players who are in special need of guidance. He stated players must go through the HPP before they venture into the West Indies “A’ or Regional setup.
Professional Cricket league (PCL) overseas player rulings and rationale
Cameron said the reason for the mandatory two overseas players inclusion for the Regional PCL structure is to ensure West Indies cricket is properly integrated and the “Best Players” are afforded the opportunity to play.
It was expected after the rule of the overseas player was introduced, the respective territories would have ‘jumped on the idea’ and would have bought players from outside their territories in the hope of boosting their side but this was not done. Guyana was the only territory in the region to purchase an overseas player resulting in what Cameron called a forced decision to have all territories include a maximum of two foreign players.
He said the idea of the player draft is to ensure in the future a total free agency is accepted in the regional cricket system for the betterment of West Indies cricket. Cameron, did however acknowledge while some players who might not be suited for the T20 format are added to the draft pool, those who are limited-over specialists should continue to work hard and hope they are ‘snapped up’ by a territory.
Pitches
Addressing issues surrounding the recent complaint about the poor pitches around the Caribbean especially in Guyana, the WICB President said the Board is currently seeking advice from the Head Curator in St Lucia, the University of the West Indies (UWI) and other consultants on how to improve and eventually prepare better wickets.
