Fans Must Fuel WICB Change
There can no longer be any dispute about this: The West Indies Cricket Board, as presently constituted, has to go. For years now this group, with different leaders, has been committing one gaffe after another and just as you think it can't get worse, it gets worse - be it the investment losses; the Lara debacle in England; the recent sponsorship war; and, to crown if off, the mutilation of the team days before the current South Africa series; the list goes on.
The reality appears to be exactly as the journalist Tony Fraser put it: The WICB is stuck with a 1950s mentality and approach, while the rest of the cricket world has simply passed us by. It is now patently obvious that we must completely revamp the WICB operation if there is be any hope for the restoration of our cricket. Restoration to eminence may be asking too much, but at least restoration to respectability must be undertaken.
The matter is urgent, so urgent in fact that Trinidadian cricket coach Theo Cuffy is right when he calls for someone with a mission to launch such a campaign, much as CLR James campaigned to have a black man be named West Indies captain; that was the crisis in that era. The crisis in this era is one of professional management of our sport, and a Caribbean personality or journalist must follow in CLR's footsteps and campaign for a revamping of the WICB. Two logical candidates, Tony Cozier and Michael Holding, come to mind.
Ordinary citizens, too, must do more than complain over a beer. We must brace our politicians, our community leaders, our ministers, our business leaders, and impress upon them the urgency of this revamping. We must write about it, phone about it, and e-mail about it, and do it unrelentingly until the cricket establishment is forced to take heed. We must do it in a shout - history has shown they don't listen to our whispers - and we must all trumpet our suggestions for the revamping. Here are a few:
* Caribbean governments should contribute financially, perhaps on a pro rata basis, to assist board operating expenses, but leaving the WICB to run its affairs without political interference.
* The board should have one representative from each regional cricket body. Beyond that it should consist of a range of people with professional skills (contracts; marketing; corporate sponsorship; sport presentation; etc) as is common with many successful boards. These professionals will contribute to the WICB operating along proven business lines, thereby reducing the likelihood of the imbroglios of recent years.
* The WICB must issue an audited financial statement at the end of each year, and report on plans for the coming year. In short, it must become accountable to the people for whom it is being paid to be custodians of the game.
* The WICB must develop a proper cricket programme throughout the region to teach young people the fundamentals of the game, and must then validate the training through organised competitions. It is inexcusable for a pace bowler to reach Test level and not know the value of an upright seam or a vertical wrist or where the no-ball line is.
* Physical training regiments should be part of this youth programme, which should extend through regional cricket and up to the Test team. It is inexcusable for a cricketer to come into the West Indies team lacking the fitness to play for five days.
* The provision of dead wickets, or "play-for-a-draw" policies, as Michael Holding put it, must be abandoned. It is not only embarrassing to our proud cricket history; it makes for boring and pointless games that will deplete attendance. Wickets such as the ARG result in scores that are simply smoke and mirrors; even newcomers such as Digicel must see that.
* Use the former greats, as Andy Roberts suggests, to advise and motivate. That involvement might propel the commitment or discipline the current crop seems to lack.
Players are the game, not the board, and they should be compensated accordingly. It is inexcusable for world-class West Indies cricketers to retire from the game destitute.
We need to hear other suggestions from people knowledgeable about cricket and its operation. To listen to fans throughout the region, the debate is over: It's no longer a matter of if, but a matter of how we revamp the current administration of this game which means so much to so many of us. Let us all begin to shout for it now, but some prominent person must take up this cause and push it to conclusion. We have endured the embarrassments for too long.