Mon, Mar 3, '08
New West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) Cricket Development Officer (CDO) for the Leeward Islands Kenneth Benjamin said he is focusing on restructuring cricket in all the Leeward Islands territories.
Benjamin, who took up his appointment earlier this year, aims to get each territory to play under a single structure, but admits it will be a major challenge.
“I am really working for the West Indies Cricket Board and at the moment I am focussing on restructuring Leeward Islands cricket. I am hoping that with the help of each individual association, we can restructure the cricket in each Leeward Islands territory. The main objective is to get all the islands playing under the same system in terms of the structure of the cricket in each territory,” Benjamin said in an interview with the Antigua Sun newspaper.
“Yes I expect that there is going to be some problems along the line because some of these associations have the old boys’ school of thought and they may not want to change, but I have a job to do and I am hoping we can work together for the betterment of cricket in the Leeward Islands.
“My interest is Leeward Islands cricket and my focus is mainly youth development and I will not be deterred from that.”
The former West Indies fast bowler and coach said he has already formulated a three-year development plan, which he presented to members of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA) during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in January.
“I have actually presented a plan to the Leeward Islands board during their last AGM and from all reports the members were quite pleased with the presentations and the plans,” Benjamin said.
“Reuben Meade of Montserrat is the first vice-president of the LICA and I am working very closely with him in terms of getting certain things in place. I have actually sent out a questionnaire to all LICA member territories in the hope of acquiring some data about the current state of their cricket.
“This questionnaire is seeking information from each territory about its coaches, grounds, structure, youth programmes, teams participation in domestic competitions and so forth.
“From there we can look at all the various islands associations and see the short-comings and see how we can structure the cricket to make all the islands in the Leewards grouping sing out of the same hymnbook.”
Benjamin said his job with the WICB is a two-fold one. The ex-Leeward Islands and Antiguan pacer said he is also doing some preliminary work in assisting the WICB in setting up their Cricket Academy.
“At the same time I am doing some direct work for the West Indies Cricket Board because the WICB is setting up a Cricket Academy. All the CDO will be directly linked with the academy,” Benjamin said.
“Therefore, whatever is happening in the WICB academy we would want it to trickle down into the various individual islands.
“It is quite a complex thing and we may not see a lot of things happening in the next week or two, but I am guaranteeing in a couple of months time you would definitely see some things happening.”
