Q & A with Lyndel Wright: “Let good sense prevail”

The Jamaica Cricket Association’s (JCA) election was long in the making. Suggestions of impropriety led to delays in the Annual General Meeting while the organization’s financial records were audited. On 11th May, Lyndel Wright won the mandate - by a wide margin - to direct Jamaica’s cricket for the next two years.

He is better known as the half-brother of O’Neil Gordon ‘Collie’ Smith – a famous West Indian all rounder whose life was cut short in a car accident in England at the age of 26. Wright was a spinner who bowled leg breaks for Boys Town which at the time had a strong team playing in Jamaica’s Senior Cup competition. Making his debut for Jamaica in 1969, Wright went on to represent his country for 10 years, playing his last match against Guyana in April 1979. He later managed several Jamaica teams and has a reputation as a disciplinarian.

'Muddy’ as he is affectionately known, has a clear mission: to develop good citizens through cricket. His platform is education, from which he himself benefitted and which lead to a successful career in Construction. The 61 year old President spoke to CaribbeanCricket.com on Day 3 of the Test match against India at Sabina Park. His top three priorities, WIPA’s role in West Indies cricket and the Chris Gayle situation were some of the topics discussed, along with the meeting his new administration initiated, which WICB has just hailed as ‘historic.’

The Jamaica Cricket Association elections was on 11th May. How have you spent your first six weeks in office?

It has been busy because we came into the administration and right away we had to be preparing for a Test match and a One Day game, plus we had to go out there to meet some sponsors to look about our Kingston Wharves competition for the U-15s. You have the Jamaica National Primary and All Age and you have Kingston Wharves, so we had to be meeting with the sponsors to confirm whatever level of sponsorship there is, if any. So it has been quite busy.

What are the top three priorities for your administration?

My major priority right now is to seek funding to facilitate the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that we have with University of Technology (UTECH) whereby that MOU provides eight places for our young cricketers annually and this should start sometime in September. For me, education is very important for the advancement and development of our players, so that is what we are looking funds for.

The other area is our cricket development as last year we did not play T20 cricket and this year because of the lack of funds, our Senior Cup competition was truncated. We would certainly love to have the T20 or the 50-overs limited game played as soon as we can get some funds in place to do that.

The third one is that cricket is our core business and we have to look at how we can provide camps and personal development programmes for our youngsters.

All of that takes money and we have heard about the dire straits that JCA is in. What plans do you have to improve the financial situation of the JCA?

We have already embarked on some discussions with sponsors who certainly are willing to come on board, which is Kingston Wharves, to assist in that area. We need to look at funding for the senior players to address our 50-overs and T20 competitions.

You had said that there were sponsors lined up who were reluctant to come on board while the past administration was in.

No. What we had said is that we had been speaking to sponsors and we are still doing that. There is nothing new that we can confirm yet. Recently I met with a prospective sponsor but one of the concerns is the level of turnout you get at the matches. That is one of their main concerns. You know the level of our domestic competition right now. But the fact that it is a building programme, we are hoping that the sponsors can give some consideration to that, providing that there can be some benefit to them.

What made you decide to run for President?

I think I can offer some more in terms of the direction I would like to see our cricket go in. I have seen a break down in discipline among our young players and I think that I want to see an opportunity for them being created in particular in their education.

In addition to that, there are members of the Board who felt that I could make a difference and there were even Jamaican players, clubs and parishes leadership who felt that I could make a difference and they would be willing to give the necessary support. I thank them very much, those who had supported the cause, and I hope that we can all work together in the interest of cricket for the advancement and development of players both in the game as well as in their education. Our thought is that we will try our best to use cricket as the vehicle to develop good citizens of Jamaica.

Some might have looked on while you were 1st Vice President and said perhaps the President did not have your full support. How do you respond to that?

No, I don’t think that is so because whatsoever he put forward to me, I certainly made my contribution. We looked at the engagement of the Technical Director, I gave him my support on that; we spoke about it. When we were looking for the CEO at the time, I gave him support. We looked at the engagement of the Marketing Officer, I gave him support. In matters relating to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), I gave support.

When I heard about it, because things have been bandied around that I did not give support, I wrote a letter to him and I said to him if there is anything he wanted to respond to he was free to do that. I never got a response. There was no response.

Would you say there might be a little bit of a rift between those who supported him and those who supported you, that now needs healing?

No there was no rift in all honesty. What I know is that you had Directors who gave support in terms of the Festival of Stars, for example. Myself in the capacity as VP gave support to it. What I was not happy with was the way in which it was managed, the whole management of the process. You have Directors who feel the same way about it.

Again I say there was no rift. I believe that in any Board you need people to express themselves openly without any reservation so that you can get the best result in the end. You don’t want a Board where Directors are afraid to express themselves. I don’t think that way you get full participation. Nor do I want a Board where I am the leader and the Directors are reluctant to say anything because I am not going to listen; I am just on my own will and accord. That doesn’t help.

So have you reached out to them then?

I think we have a Board now who is working together for the same common objective, which is cricket. That’s our primary function for the development of our young players.

So before you would say that the Board wasn’t working together?

I wouldn’t say we weren’t working together. It was a question of how things were handled and addressed. Directors expressed views probably to the dislike of the leadership. But again, I would not want to be on a Board where the Directors are unable to express themselves.

So you are all for openness.

Certainly.

Ok. We see that when players get to the International level, they generally lack application, evidenced by how short a period they spend at the crease. In Jamaica’s Senior Cup, the match is only a two day match. It does not build the ability to stay long at the crease and bat for long because you’re trying to get a result in two days.

But in the years gone by, Senior Cup was two days, not even two consecutive days. It was played over two Saturdays. We had players who played long innings. What we need to do is look at a development process where players will be able to have a longer concentration span. Of course, what has declined is the level of players that you have so we will certainly have to look at how we can expand our competition in terms of having probably a national cricket league and we can possibly extend an invitation to players outside of the Caribbean and outside of Jamaica.

It is players that make a competition, not the competition that make a player so if you have a strong vibrant competition, then the players will now be accustomed to more competitive play which will help to lead them when they move forward to the regional level and the Test level. The regional level is also weak...poor....and that needs to be strengthened.

Right, but those matches are played over four days so you are taking a cricketer from Jamaica who is accustomed to playing a First Class match over two days and then moving him to twice that long.

In the years past, we had the same thing and players performed at Test level and did very well. But it is the competition they are playing in.

But if you have acknowledged that the players today are different from yesteryear, shouldn’t we try to do something differently? Shouldn’t we try to have a 3-day tournament?

Cost. You have cost constraints. Also, what you need to remember is that nowadays, players are employed. It’s a question whether or not they will get the time off from work.

But if you don’t ask you won’t know.

That has been a difficulty. What we could probably look at is what we had in the past. You had the game being extended to three days. The first day you play on a Saturday, and then the following week you play Saturday and Sunday so that would be three days, because we had that before. But of course, you need money. You need cash to care. That is an area that we can improve up on, in terms of increasing the time.

We’re going to talk about Chris Gayle now. What is the JCA doing to bring about a resolution to the situation?

JCA met with the WICB on the 19th June and we had a good meeting. I think it’s the first of its kind ever between a regional board and the WICB and I think it is being looked at possibly at the way going forward. That was suggested from us.

Who initiated the meeting?

JCA initiated the meeting. We had a very long deliberation on the Chris Gayle issue. As you are aware, they had a meeting prior to that but it was prematurely ended. So what they have told us is that they will continue with that meeting so that there can be some resolve.

Have you spoken to Chris Gayle?

Yes, I have.

And do you think that he is receptive?

He is receptive based on the discussion I had with him. He is receptive. Even something was in today’s paper, about Gayle willing to go the extra mile to bring some conciliation to the whole matter if it means that he has to apologize. Wavell Hinds, who is VP of WIPA and a director of JCA......

Oh, he’s a Director of the JCA?

Yes, he is a Director of the JCA.

How did he get in?

He’s from Kensington. We are happy to have him. A young bright mind.

We are happy to have him because we are certainly looking to the future for leadership and I think he can add some value. I do believe in the youth.

What are your views on WIPA’s role in West Indies cricket?

I think WIPA has a role to play. They certainly look at it from an industrial point of view. The players benefit; I am not saying that the WICB doesn’t. But the fact is they are the representative of the players. But importantly, what you need is a buy-in between WIPA and the WICB because the objective certainly must be the same, which is the betterment of West Indies cricket. If you are this far apart, then that hinders progress, or the advancement of players and what you get is clashes which doesn’t help. It affects the whole interrelationship between the board members and the players, which you don’t want at this stage, worse the fact where we are now where we are not a dominant force in international cricket. What we need is harmony and peace and of course, we need righteousness amongst people.

WICB’s stance towards WIPA has not always been one which suggests that they want to work with WIPA.

No no no. I must disagree with you there. I am a Director. The WICB surely wants to work with WIPA but it must be done harmoniously between WIPA’s representatives and the WICB representative.

Do you think that the WICB’s attitude towards WIPA would change if the head of WIPA changed?

We ought not to lose sight of objectivity, irrespective of who the persons are. Let good sense prevail at all times.

At the end of your two year tenure, what factors would you use to measure how successful you have been?

What I would love to see firstly is that a number of players would have got a chance to go to university and be a graduate of UTECH or of any other university that we can have a relationship with. We are looking to have a relationship with all the tertiary institutions (MICO, GC Foster, UWI etc) where our players will be able to get entry into and we can work out whatever scholarship they can provide for the good and betterment of the players. That is my first area. I would like to see us having a national cricket league where the best players in Jamaica play along with players coming from outside Jamaica.

Courtney Walsh is very much an integral part of our programme and in time we will make an announcement as to his role. Courtney has the reach internationally and we want to use him to assist in the betterment of cricket, whereby we provide opportunities for our players going outside of Jamaica to play in England, Australia wherever, so that their game can develop. This is an area that is lacking. When the West Indies was in their heydays, most of the players had the opportunity to go outside of the West Indies and ply their skills. It is different levels they are playing in. It will help to strengthen their game, strengthen their discipline that is required at a professional level.

You are stressing education. Do you think there is a correlation between education and how well a cricketer plays?

Yes, there is a nexus certainly because players need discipline, so it interrelates. If you are going to do well in school you have to study and it requires discipline to study and what they learn in terms of how they can rationalize and think out situations, it will help in that respect.

And of course, it is not just about cricket; it is about what happens at the end of their career. As a person who played, I recognized the value of going to school, learning and have whatsoever skill or craft you may develop which in time will assist you when your playing days are over, because you have to finish playing.

It will also help to strengthen our administration where those same players who are from probably different clubs and parishes will go back and give back for the advancement and development of their respective clubs and parishes . So it has long range vision in it. Give them the opportunity now because in time, you must stop playing.