West Indies cricket is in an unacceptable state and despite previous studies and reports, yielding an avalanche of documents, the slide has been sharp and is still continuing.

At the Test level our team is ranked in the 8th position. Granted the steady improvement of Bangladesh and save for the existing circumstances in Zimbabwe it could even be in further jeopardy,

As of June 2007, we have lost 19 of our last 23 Test Matches played on tour, with the other four being shortened by rain.

In 80 years of Test Cricket, the West Indies suffered its worst loss at Headingley.

We are faring no better in the one-day game.

Perceptions

There are a number of negative perceptions about West Indies cricket which, whatever their validity, we consider it necessary to address:

The WICB is administered inefficiently;
Sponsorship deals are perceived as flawed;
Finances are in shambles;
Funding does not reach territorial boards.

* Its relationship with the Team/WIPA is strained to breaking point and its position as a private entity with the West Indian public is yet to be clearly defined.

* The performance of the team has deteriorated disastrously. The team is near the bottom of international ranking. Confidence, consistency and dynamic commitment are increasingly lacking.

* The popularity of the game is declining; the pool of young players which sources the game’s renewal is drying up and the means to develop, strengthen and extend the benefits of cricket are dwindling.

*There are many aspects of West Indies cricket to be examined if its future strengthening, development and extension are to be secured, e.g.

i) development of women’s cricket;
ii) the popularizing of the game in the hemisphere;
iii) the economic opportunities in closer connection with the tourism and entertainment sectors;
iv) helping to direct the growth of 20/20 cricket.

The efficacy and worth of our Governance Committee are already being questioned, especially when one takes into account previous efforts and the absence of resultant action. Will it be kept secret and pigeon-holed or see the early light of day and be implemented?

If there is to be a new departure, which we regard as urgent, there are at least four important questions which the public will expect the Governance Committee Report to answer forthrightly.

1. How can the governance of West Indies cricket be made more effective?
2. How can the current performance of the flagship team be taken to a higher level?
3. How can the broad base of the game, and its immediate prospects, in the Region be strengthened?
4. How can the fragile financial base of the West Indies cricket be improved and secured on a lasting basis?

Any structure to move forward must ensure full accountability and transparency. Precise goals must be established, so as to measure performance at every level on a regular basis.

We are not starting from scratch. Much valuable work has gone on before, yielding proposals that are still relevant.

As one illustration, we append extracts from the Report of the CARICOM/UWI Cricket Conference 2000, which we have found to be a valuable reference document.

We have tried to build on the insights and proposals contained in that Conference Report.

In 2000, West Indies Cricket was already in a state of frightening decline. It is today in a tailspin.

(1) Governance of West Indies Cricket

* There is a disconnect between the private cricket institutions and public ownership of the game;

 

* Administration at the top is seen at best as unwieldy, remote and non-representative and, at worst, as an ineffective and secretive cabal;

* Relationships with WIPA, CARICOM Governments, National Boards are all in question, one way or another;

* Aspects of the current ICC regime are proving detrimental to our interests.

We intend to address these concerns in advising how the WICB should be set up and run. Changes are essential. A new departure is urgent.

Organizational Requirements and Structure

Because of its diffusive character, the organizational structure for cricket should be sufficiently de-centralized to allow the exercise of local initiative, while at the same time providing adequate opportunities for the regionalization of management where there are evident economies of scale and scope to be realized.

Accordingly, any constitution for West Indies cricket should continue to provide for a management structure, based on a regional entity linked to and in close interaction with territorial bodies.

There is little doubt that the present structure is too unwieldy; nor does it provide sufficient scope for involvement and participation by all the major stakeholders.

The West Indies Cricket Board should give way to a more representative body.

One clear option entails the creation of a West Indies Cricket Commission, enabling representation of all major interest groups, e.g. territorial boards, players and officials, women, the Caribbean Community, the private sector and civil society.

When the membership of the Commission has been chosen, it would then appoint the Chairman.

Such a Commission would meet bi-annually and be responsible for approving the policies, programmes and budget.

A modified approach could be to establish a nominating body comprised of nominees of the Cricket Boards, the Governments, the West Indies Players Association, Past Players, the regional Private Sector and the Media to identify, interview and nominate the Directors.

Even if final selection is to be dominated by the Territorial Boards, it should be limited to the list of names submitted by the nominating body. (Such a format is not unlike that which now exists for the nomination of Judges of the CCJ.)

In either option a small executive body, appointed by the Commission/Board should be charged with implementation of the work programme and management of the budget. Such an executive body may have some territorial representation, but the aim is to provide members with the necessary expertise in areas such as marketing, finance, business negotiations and corporate law.

Yet another option is for the WICB to be run as a publicly listed Company on regional Stock Exchanges, with Directors accountable to shareholders, replete with an Annual General Meeting.

This could also help to raise much needed capital and give the Caribbean public a sense of ownership.

Such a broad share-ownership structure would be spread among regional institutions, Territorial Boards, CARICOM Companies and Nationals (resident or abroad), WIPA.

There would need to be safeguards against appropriation of the Board by special interests.

CAPS would have to be set, and the voting power so arranged as to avoid control ending up in the hands of a limited number of persons and Corporations or result in a populist system which could stultify effective decision-making.

No matter how the Board is chosen, there must be a clear delineation between the role of the Board as a policy making and monitoring entity and that of the management and staff as the executing arm.

“The Board should not attempt to micro-manage every aspect of the game.”

When the Board gets embroiled in administrative details, or in a daily quarrel with the simplest of things, its authority and credibility become severely undermined.

* No Board can operate properly where trust does not exist, when discussions and decisions are constantly leaked.

* Transparency and confidentiality are not conflicting requirements for successful corporate managements.

The Board should be so comprised and its affairs handled in a manner where conflicts of interests do not determine or influence the conduct of its business.

In general, the Secretariat must have the requisite professional competence, efficient support staff and be suitably equipped to become a high effective corporate entity.

It needs to maintain close links with all Member Territories and other associated interests, such as sponsors, regional Governments and organizations responsible for cricket in other countries.

As presently exists, a Chief Executive Officer will be appointed who is responsible to the Board/Commission for the execution of its programme and management of its affairs.

A complete management audit with the Board’s staff will become necessary, but at present we suggest that:

The CEO will be supported by three divisions –

- One dealing with Operations that will include units responsible for team performance, finance, marketing and the management of tours and competitions;

- Another will be responsible for the servicing of the Board and its subsidiary bodies, as well as communications and public relations;

- The third unit will be responsible for cricket development and that will include the Academy system, training for other cricket personnel such as coaches and umpires, the placing of young players abroad, the 15 – 19 Regional competition, and all other matters having to do with the development of players and the game.

2) Taking Team Performance to a Higher Level

Pride and commitment remain the yardstick by which West Indies cricket must be judged. Every step a West Indian player takes – on or off the field – must be informed by this credo.

Six prerequisites are not negotiable:

· Education and Training
· Fitness
· Discipline
· Striving for Performance enhancement
· Team spirit
· West Indian Identity

The Flagship Team

- Retainer system
- Selection
- Fitness (individualized)
- Coaching
- Management
- Captaincy
- The off-season: Selective international experience/coaching

Players in Waiting

- Must be prepared and make ready for immediate call-up
- Health, fitness, discipline, coaching to be organized on a continuing basis
- Vital role of regional Boards in this process
- Retainer arrangements

3) Strengthening the Base of the Game –

- Responsibilities of regional Boards
- Cricket in schools: Primary and Secondary
- The Cricket Academy
- 20/20 Cricket: Encouragement and benefits
- The role of the Media in promulgating the game.

Clubs

The salvation of cricket is in the schools and clubs where good technique is taught and learned, where the grooming begins.

What returns from the earnings of West Indies Cricket should go to the Cricket Clubs for their investment in the preparation of first class players?

Professional League

As one contributor put it –

“The fact of the matter, whether we like it or not, is that the final XI which takes the field to represent the West Indies collectively, is not a team of professionals. One or two players, due to the years of experience on the international circuit, qualify as such, but to label the whole team “professional” is to do them and the public an injustice.”

Every other test playing nation has a Professional League and its merits cannot be overestimated.

A structural proposal for West Indies Professional League was prepared for the WICB in September 2005 by Donald Lockerbie and was updated by him after the experience gleaned from the CWC 2007.

Other serious and carefully crafted proposals exist and deserve urgent consideration since we envisage a W.I. Professional Cricket League as a sine qua non.

4) Achieving Financial Viability –

- Essential: Full disclosure of financial situation and prospects in the proposed Annual Report that will be available for public discussion, including details of sponsorship agreements and earnings from home and overseas tours.

- A principal objective must be to fund development activities in member territories such as youth cricket and cricket education,

- Concerted initiatives on all fronts:

- International; ICC – Special Appeal, e.g. to restore previous arrangements for distribution of media proceeds from tours.

- Governmental – CDB to be asked to provide loans to territories for on-lending to businesses engaged in producing cricket, goods and services, e.g. equipment, supplies, memorabilia; tax relief on contributions to cricket (and other sports).

- Private Sector – “Pledging conferences to restore West Indies cricket”; sponsorship of youth and league cricket

- The West Indian public – region wide special appeals to the public channeled through the media.

West Indies Cricket is a strong international recognized brand. It enjoys tremendous public support and goodwill everywhere. The continued under-performance of the West Indies Team will do incalculable damage to the value of the brand.

The WICB is engaged in the global business place. It has to hire professionals and re-establish a full-time commercial operation.

This should contain a specific U.S./Canadian programme and the commercialization of the Caribbean Television markets.

5) The Board and the Players

It would appear that the Board and WIPA have an undeclared war against each other. No seer is needed to reveal how deleterious this has been to W.I. Cricket.

Few West Indian cricketers, past or present, have expressed satisfaction with how they have been treated by the Board.

While many concerned supporters have condemned WIPA for being unduly militant, the evidence establishes that on the last five occasions when they have confronted each other in arbitration proceedings, the Board has lost every time.

Whatever questions may be raised as to the attitude and focus of WIPA, one learned contributor has submitted:

(i) “The players are the most valuable resource of West Indies Cricket. And in recent times they have become very conscious of this fact.

They expect to be dealt with in a manner that accepts and respects this reality….

The WICB cannot win the respect of the players and their representatives by using a “big stick” approach. A change in culture is required.

The Board needs to demonstrate that it values the players as human and that it accepts WIPA as a full partner in West Indies Cricket.”

(ii) “The Board needs to seek appropriate expertise on how to manage the poor relationship that subsists with the players and their representatives. Further, the Board should acquire relevant expertise on managing sports and entertainment disputes.”

If the management efficiencies proposed are implemented, WIPA can increasingly view itself as a partner and support mechanism for the development of cricketers with secondary attention being given to its role as a watchdog and negotiator for better playing conditions that entail aggressive tactics as against conciliatory approaches aimed towards creating consensus.

At the same time, the players must demonstrate their full commitment to excellence, involving high performance and rigour in their preparation. This should be backed up by a compensation system for players which provides for retainers combined with performance incentives.

Their remuneration package should be the subject of public disclosure.

Penalties should be exacted and sanctions applied for stipulated breaches of discipline.

Cricket Development and the Global Economy

As indicated previously, there are a number of important issues which have not attracted sufficient attention in public discussion, but which require urgent attention by the cricket authorities.

An area requiring high priority attention is the region’s response to the opportunities arising from the development of cricket in non-traditional countries.

Of particular importance are the developments occurring in some countries in the Americas (e.g. USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Central America), and in Asia (e.g. China, Malaysia, Singapore). The growth of the game in these countries offers opportunities to the West Indies for developing competitive income-earning games and series with these countries.

There is also the scope of earning income through the provision of coaching and umpiring services and other forms of technical assistance.

Inevitably, income earning opportunities will also arise in the sale of cricket paraphernalia and the development of media services.

Cricket can become big business for the Caribbean but it requires, among other things, the restoration of the cricket reputation of the region as well as the exercise of business initiative and entrepreneurship. Accordingly, any organization responsible for the development of cricket in the region should have a strong capacity in international marketing and associated investment promotion.

It goes without saying that effective marketing of West Indies cricket is closely linked to achieving the goals of financial viability for any organization(s) responsible for the development of the game in the Region. It will also open up more lucrative and sustained opportunities for income earnings by the players and officials involved in the game, and business opportunities for business enterprises, both large and small.

OBSERVATIONS:

· The WICB must foster a culture of transparency and accountability. It has to provide information to the public on a timely basis.

· In its internal operations, the Directors, Officers, Committees and employees should be held accountable for the duties and tasks entrusted to them.

· The spheres of responsibility for the WICB and the Territorial Boards need to be more precisely defined.

Responding to concerns raised by some Territorial Boards, the responsibilities of those Boards should be more clearly delineated and regular arrangements made for performance evaluation.

· Cricket, located within the context of sports tourism, can become an important driver for economic growth and development in the Region.

· Having identified those areas for which Regional Governments must necessarily assume the lead responsibility or to which they will be expected to contribute meaningfully, the operational relationships and inter-connectivity must be quickly established for both to perform their assigned roles adequately.

The Next Steps

We set out below a series of actions which must be taken with immediate effect to give a new momentum to cricket reform and development. We have not inserted a time-table for accomplishing these actions, but we expect that all of them can be set in train by mid-2008, or before, if a new dynamism is to be imported to the processes of reform and development.

The steps required are as follows:

· Allow the completion of our Report and take final decisions about the new structure of Governance, including the governing body, the Executive, the panel of selectors and the Cricket Committee and the Secretariat.

Bearing this in mind, the Board will have to discuss at its meeting in July how it proposes to conduct its business (in the interim), before the new structure can legally come into being.

In the meanwhile, the Board can proceed to:

· Establish the Cricket Academy, with a view to commencing the new programme of training by September 2008.

Carry out an extensive review of the Test and One-Day Teams and, on the basis of individual interviews, assess aptitude for the game and adaptability to a high performance team culture.

· Select a group of, say 15 players, for continuous retraining and development over the next 12 months.

· Appoint experienced coaching staff culturally attuned, to work with selected players in a series of training camps and related activities. All of the selected players will receive remuneration, based on a fixed retainer component and a variable component related to performance.

· Formalize and strengthen the system of player evaluation, sending quarterly written reports to the executive on all of the individual players.

These reports will be used as the basis for determining the performance component of player remuneration.

· Draw-up a business plan and budget for 2008/09, giving top priority to the programme of team re-development, the Academy and the strengthened Governance structure.

Depending on the outturn, make a special appeal to Governments, the private sector and the general public to contribute towards any projected budgetary deficit.

· Strengthen immediately the programme of communication and public relations, so that all interested parties could be kept fully informed about the activities taking place.

· Put in hand the preparation of a business plan with accompanying budget to organize special initiative for the international marketing of West Indies Cricket, to take effect from, say, the last Quarter of 2008 into 2009.

· No later than 2009, the WICB should have retired all outstanding debts and thereafter maintain an operating surplus on an annual basis.

· The scoreboard demands a run chase if the West Indies is to be restored to the pinnacle of international cricket. Anything short of this will represent failure.

And so within a fixed but realistic time frame, well known and endorsed by the Board, its Committees and Management; the Territorial Boards; Regional Governments and Community Organizations; our players in every representative team; other stakeholders and the media; the ascent up the ladder of both Test and One-Day Cricket must commence and be steadily maintained in order for us to regain our position within the top tier of cricketing nations.

Restoring Hope and Confidence

If the policy and executive arm of the re-organized cricket Administration can initiate and implement a programme along these lines from early next year, we believe that we can witness a new dawn for cricket and new hope and confidence among the West Indian people.

We must be all determined to return West Indies cricket to a position of ascendancy, such as it enjoyed in the past. Nothing less will do.

Cricket in the West Indies is not just a sport, but has for long been regarded as a major vehicle for underpinning the confidence of the people of the Region in their capacity to survive and prosper as small states, working together to sustain and enhance their presence in a competitive global environment.

West Indies Cricket is therefore closely bound up with the development of the human capacities of the Region, initiative, entrepreneurship, and ability to interact effectively with different communities in the world.

Accordingly, the preparation of West Indian Cricketers must go beyond the mastery of playing techniques to embrace the wider development of their personality and self-confidence.

There is no need to re-invent the wheel but our situation is critical and demands action now.