Dear Editor,
Since there are no legal or political avenues open to those who are not directors or have the right to vote in meetings of the WICB, perhaps such outsiders should use their powers of persuasion to plead with the insiders to do something.
The administration of WI cricket has never been of a high calibre; however the high quality of the players over several decades kept them at or near the top for most of the latter part of the twentieth century. Sport, like other areas of human activity, tends to have a cyclical pattern, and after a fifteen-year period of absolute dominance that ended in the mid-nineties, WI cricket faced a new phenomenon. Competing countries, all of which were bigger, richer, and substantially more populous, concentrated their energies and resources on finding ways to get even with the WI. The reaction of WI cricket administrators was basically to become angry with their players, offering no support in the form of better coaching and ancillary matters, but rather to simply demand that their players win in the manner that their predecessors did.
A complicating factor entered the equation in the form of avenues for increased player earnings in foreign 20/20 professional leagues, particularly in India. Naturally the players utilized the opportunities which gave them more leverage with the administration, and indeed made them more militant.
The temperature of the leaders of the administration rose and discipline of players became the chosen remedy for improving performance. By 2010 an administration apparently dedicated to nothing but the harshest discipline was put in place, with predictably little or no positive results. Every player became expendable, and the need for improved coaching or any help for international players completely abandoned. The relationship between the board and players deteriorated to the point where things are today. It seems impossible to field the best team available from the comparatively limited supply of players, who are perceived by administrators and fans to be underperforming. The country that won the 50 over Championship Series in 2004 and the 20/20 Champions Trophy in 2012 cannot qualify for the next Championship trophy, and the board is facing a lawsuit claiming over US$40 million for a breach of contract that on its face seems to put the board`s very existence at risk. There is no permanent head coach in place. A normal board would have resigned en masse.
What can be done? I suggest that the regional airlines and the hotel industry in one territory be approached to contribute in kind to facilitating a two-day get-together in one territory, of the board, WIPA executives, all cricketers who have played internationally in the last decade or so, together with the legends, and all coaches and managers of the last decade. There must be no head table. A sensible local person with no cricket involvement will act as chair of the meetings where the players would bare their souls without recriminations, and everyone can speak frankly and constructively.
After the meetings all parties will sign a short declaration in which they promise publicly to do everything in their power to improve WI cricket without regard to particular regional or personal interests. The players will take with them to their respective countries a ballot form of sorts in which each player selects the three administrators, not currently on the board, whom he would most like to see directly involved in the administration of the game in the region. The three with the most votes will form a committee of five, the other two being the current President and current CEO, who together will chart a course and deal with cricket matters going forward for a period of maybe three years.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt