WICB delivers progress report

Sat, Jun 7, '08

 

by JULIAN HUNTE (WICB President)

After having served West Indies Cricket for over thirty (30) years in various positions, I am deeply honoured to be the first person from the OECS sub-region to have been elected President of the West Indies Cricket Board Inc.

On assuming the position one year ago, I was aware, given my vast experience, that West Indies Cricket faced some major challenges which impeded its development to the successes it enjoyed in the past. In addition to these major challenges, the Board had to face an increasingly disappoint and disillusioned public that in addition to their painful dissatisfaction with the senior team's performance felt betrayed and marginalised during the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

1. Establish a governance process which creates a successful culture for how we develop, operate and manage our cricket;
2. Put cricket at the top of our discussions and our priorities; 
3. Improve our relationships and credibility with our stakeholders, the public and the participants in the game.
   
4. Establish a viable financial base and business model to finance our cricket operations, development programs and the administration of our organisation.

GOVERNANCE

From June 28th 2007, the WICB Board of Directors sought to address the issue of its Corporate Governance through a number of strategic actions:

1. The appointment of Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Mr Ken Hewitt and Mr. Dinanath Ramnarine as new non-member Directors to the Board of Directors. These three gentlemen have brought to the Board, leadership experience and perspectives from the world of political economy, finance and accountancy and player welfare.
   
2. The appointment of Dr. Donald Peters as Chief Executive Officer and leader of the Executive Team of the WICB. Dr Peters has brought a fresh approach to people management
   
3. The appointment of former Sri Lanka Cricket Coach and Australian Educator Mr. John Dyson as Cricket Coach of the West Indies and Head of the Player Management Team.
4. The positive acceptance of the Report of the Governance Committee, headed by former Prime Minister P.J. Paterson. The Board further acknowledged the inalienable rights of you the shareholders as the true owners of the Corporation and of our own role as trustees on behalf of the shareholders. In that regard immediately on receipt of the report, it was submitted to the shareholders for comments and guidance and also published on the WICB Website for the benefit of the other stakeholders of West Indies Cricket. We are delighted to report that we have set about implementing the recommendations of the Report with positive vigor and commitment. We have sought to introduce a healthy culture at the Board which safeguards the policies and processes that guarantees the needs and aspirations of you, the shareholders, and the other stakeholders.

We shall report annually to the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee of Cricket and we shall also re-establish a Stakeholder’s Conference, which shall meet once every two (2) years commencing in October 2009. The main objective of the conference whose Terms of Reference will be decided by a Committee to be set up by the President, is to provide additional review of the implementation of the WICB Strategic Plan.

The Stakeholder’s Conference will be a major instrument in cementing the reality that West Indies cricket belongs to West Indians and all stakeholders should have a say. The Conference will put to rest the constant argument and accusations against the Board that it functions in an exclusive and distant relationship with the stakeholders. It will also cement an approach that I am deliberately inculcating of including everyone who has a contribution to make and equally important willing to be held accountable for their contribution.  

At the beginning of our appointment we determined that it was essential to establish your Organisation’s strategic road map through the plan and thank the Executive Management for their diligence in that regard. In order to ensure that the specific components of the plan are implemented in your interest, we have reconstituted the Committees of the Board to assist the various Departments with execution and to inculcate the Board Culture that will result in success at all levels. The responsibilities of the Directors and Executive Management are paramount and they are the key drivers of Performance Management to achieve success of WICB operations and business development.

The Board has already noted the shareholders reluctance to accept the idea of having one Director for each Territorial Board, thereby reducing the number of Directors by six.  Additionally, it was proposed that there will be a maximum of five non-Member Directors, that additional Director coming from CARICOM.   I have promised the Governance Committee that if there is any delay in getting the Territorial Boards to agree on those changes today, I would seek to have the Articles amended to include one new, non-Member Director from CARICOM.  I will put this proposal to this Assembly at a Special General Meeting.

The special recommendation to change the name of your organisation was reviewed by the Board. We have determined through our market research that the Brand and Goodwill Value of the WICB brand name and logo has increased to well over US Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars (US$250K) in 2008 as a result of the improved performance and results of your teams on the field. Notwithstanding, we shall undertake a professional review to determine the benefits of a name change.

CRICKET

Globally, the game of cricket is changing and the WICB and its stakeholders must be prepared and equipped to manage these changes.

We have challenged ourselves in our Strategic Plan to:

• Prioritize our focus on cricket;
• Expand the game among our youth;
• Provide a development infrastructure that will facilitate their participation, enhance their performances and lead them on a pathway to elite success;
• Professionalize our competitions to allow our players to adopt cricket as a full time activity;
  Promote New Generation Cricket ( Twenty20) to attract supporters back to the game and provide new commercial opportunities for our cricketers. 
  

The Stanford Twenty20 has entered its second season and continues to be very successful in widening participation among West Indian youth and international supporters.

The lessons learnt are that night cricket, world-class grounds and well-managed entertainment events will attract New Generation supporters and participants to the game. I urge our members to note the foregoing and value the legacy of the stadia that we developed for the CWC 2007. Minimum ground standards for our regional cricket are an elusive ideal and members must be committed to achieving these maximum standards that effectively underpin the development program.

It should be further noted that while the WICB has been willing to team up with the Stanford Group in sanctioning the tournaments, the financial rewards and cash flow benefits must be beneficial for the WICB and the territorial participants. A source of funds must be clearly identified to contribute to the funding requirements for the development of our cricket and the remuneration of our players.

We are presently engaged in further discussions for an additional agreement that will expand Stanford Twenty20 Cricket to include an annual International Series between a Stanford West Indies Team and England. A separate agreement is also expected to be concluded for financial assistance from Stanford and the ECB covering aspects of our development program that will target our younger players in their schools and also provide them with equipment necessary to play the game.

With all these developments, I am proposing that the WICB establish a Non-Profit Development Company for controlling the development funds separate from the WICB’s consolidated funds. 

The WICB has finalized an agreement with University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados for the establishment of a West Indies Cricket Academy, with satellites in each member territory. The launch of the Academy is subject to the completion of negotiations for a sponsorship agreement to cover financing of the Academy Program. 

The draft program of the Academy will cover all aspects of the regional development program which has been approved by the Board and is monitored by the Development Committee. I am delighted to report that we have already begun to use the University’s facilities for training camps for all ours teams prior to their participation in tournaments and thank UWI for their cooperation and support.

In addition to the Academy, the WICB is committed to provide additional development resources in the territories through youth development initiatives like our current Kiddy’s Cricket and the ECB’s “Chance to Shine Program”. We are presently rolling out ‘Training the Trainers’ Courses in order to build in all the territories a core of coaches who are well prepared and competent in what to teach and how to teach the youth.

All our development efforts are aimed at expanding participation, building skills and competence and enhancing performance and results in regional and international competitions.

At the regional level, scheduling of our cricket season was challenged by our agreement to allow the Stanford Twenty20 a window in the first quarter of the calendar year. This was a dilemma and has represented a major shift in our traditional approach of playing competitive cricket ahead of our home series. Our operations management therefore has to present strategic solutions to scheduling our cricket season that allows a new focus on a performance management system to achieve better results in our competitions and effective preparation in our training camps ahead of home and away series.

Of course, a regional professional league based on teams with the best players playing against each other would greatly enhance the performance and results for which we are striving. Our Professional League Committee, under the Chairmanship of Director Deryck Murray, has proposed a professional league model which the Board is examining against the background of discussions which are emerging in the ICC for an official window within the Future Tours Program for the IPL. This is an additional challenge that requires a solution.  

The ever changing external and internal threats therefore behoove us to focus our priorities both at the governance and management level on discussions and conversations on playing and the development of cricket in our hemisphere.

WOMEN'S CRICKET

We have come a long way in a year. We established a Women’s Cricket Committee under Lennox John, the present CEO of the Windward Islands Cricket Board and former long-standing Director.  The Committee has recommended an implementation strategy for integration.  While this is taking place, the West Indies Women’s Cricket Federation will phase itself out.  There are some issues in terms of how the process will work but with the goodwill evident on both sides we believe we are on the path to the successful integration of women’s cricket.  Our Strategic Plan seeks to involve both boys and girls within the schools cricket system.  Our Academy will be geared to preparing teams of both sexes

All these developments, especially the management of our Strategic Plan, require a Secretariat with the levels of staffing and professional competence that can deliver at the required level.  On June 28, when I was elected President, I had expressed my intention to hire a professional organization to conduct a Management Audit of the Secretariat as a priority.  The Governance Committee also made this an important recommendation in its Report. 

The audit is now in progress and an Interim Report was presented to the Board yesterday, June 6, 2008. I am convinced, and all wisdom suggests, that you cannot build and sustain first-class teams without first-class management. As we build our teams to become world champions, we need to build first-class management capabilities at the WICB and territorial boards secretariats. It is inconceivable that we can ever succeed in sustaining a winning formula without putting these necessary conditions in place. 

Improve Our Image

The Board has worked assiduously to resolve the negative conflicts that have characterized the poor image and reputation of the WICB recently. We now have a positive and healthy relationship between the Board and the players and have succeeded in building a team spirit both on and off the field. It is my view that if we believe in people and improve their capabilities, good performances and results will follow.

I am especially proud of the work of the Staff and Board to engender a new disposition to handling player relations. I will continue to be relentless in building a new confidence in the players that we are all one team each with a specific role – strategic leadership; management; and cricket performance and we are all working together to reach the pinnacle of world cricket. I ask you to recognize the tremendous work that has been done to improve and advance the relationship between Board and Players. We still have work to do but I feel a sense of commitment on everyone’s part to make it work as a team in common pursuit of our objectives.

WIPA

Whilst it is always unwise to mention names in such situations but I cannot help identify the role of WIPA under the chairmanship of Mr. Dinanath Ramnarine. Undoubtedly facing fears and accusations of having compromised the players interests by accepting a role as Director, Mr. Ramnarine has been a critical component in shaping the new relationship between player and Board. I assure you that if anything he has been able to increase the benefits to players. This is clear proof that we when we work together with a common purpose in an open and transparent way, everyone is the better for it.

There will be more difficult and challenging times ahead but the commitment and determination that WIPA and Mr. Ramnarine have shown to make it work give me tremendous confidence that you should expect more progress in the days ahead and that West Indies cricket is truly becoming one team rather than a number of stakeholders - players, Board, management, sponsors, public, government - all fighting amongst themselves.

The foundations of our leadership skills and characteristics must be the ability to get along with each other, the ability to influence people, the ability to encourage others and the ability to communicate effectively. This must permeate throughout our cricket culture and structures. Each and everyone that impact on the performance and results that we aim for should adopt our basic foundation truths that we have discussed above in order that we build a successful dynasty for West Indies Cricket. Nothing short of that is required in our people.

Finance, Marketing and Business Development

Financing our operations and activities has always been a challenge. However, during the period under review, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 here in the West Indies afforded us the opportunity at income generation that has significantly improved the resolution of our debt situation

The Profit and Loss Statement for the Tournament showed that we earned revenue of US$143,125, 825 and incurred expenditures of US$89,190,456.  This left us a surplus of US$53,939,369.  The WICB paid out by agreement with the hosting territories US$29.3 million in net ticket sales to the Local Organising Committees (LOCs). This left us with a profit of US$24,610,641 from the event.  Using a formula that was agreed to by the six Territories that comprise the Board, US$5,367,085 million was earmarked to be shared among the Territorial Boards.  The balance was used to pay off the Board’s consolidated debt.  

There is a lot that can be said in retrospect about CWC2007.  Its relative success was dampened by concerns that the event did not adequately reflect or portray the West Indian ethos or the spirit of Caribbean cricket.  However, for the record it was one of the most successful of all World Cups.  I want to congratulate the Managing Director, Mr. Christopher Dehring and his staff, as well as the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Kenneth Gordon and the Directors of CWC2007. 

We need to commend the ICC for its wisdom in allowing us to run the tournament and making it a model for the future, and also for allowing us to show the world in 2010 how to manage a successful Champions Trophy. The lessons learnt from hosting the CWC 2007 will surely guide us in planning for 2010 and I give my assurance to you that I will attempt with all my vigor and experience to ensure that we carry the spirit of West Indies cricket as a guiding motto at all stages of planning and implementation. 

During the course of this year, we have improved our income from the sale of our global media rights by over US$20 Million.  We sold these rights for the four-year period 2008 – 2012 for over US$80 Million.  We are about to conclude negotiations with the Stanford 20/20 organisation for a deal that could eventually be worth an estimated US$40 million..  However, we would still need much more revenue and new income streams to get the level of resources we need to fully achieve the objectives of our Strategic Plan.  It is one of the priorities I have set for my second year as President.  

At the time I took office, there was considerable negative feeling in the Board about the new contract with DIGICEL.  While it was generally acknowledged that the first contract was onerous, there was a view that the second was not much better and that we had given away too much.  I personally took charge of the matter and worked with our Legal Advisor, Mr. Derek Jones, to ensure that we dealt with all the issues including the telecommunications and related rights.  DIGICEL, for its part, seemed to want a genuine partnership with the Board and we have now arrived at a mutually respectful and supportive relationship.

The implementation of the CARICOM Lottery Project was originally on the list of priorities of financial projects to be undertaken.  However, given the loss of support from Trinidad and Tobago, and the inability to get everyone else to the table at the same time and with the same level of commitment, we have decided not to pursue the Lotto project any longer.

The Board’s finances have improved but there are a number of areas where we need to control expenditure and increase our revenue streams.  Our new CEO, Dr. Donald Peters, has been given the mandate of ensuring that we generate the revenue we need to make our Strategic Plan successful.  I have tried to ensure that he is given the fullest cooperation of the Board.

The future is full of many challenges for the Board.  If we are to achieve our strategic vision, there is a lot of hard work ahead.  Our short term goal is staging a successful Champions Trophy 2010 and winning it.  Our long term goal is to be in the top three Test-playing nations of the world by 2012.

This year, June 2008 to May 2009 is perhaps the most important in the history of this Board.  Radical changes are necessary if we are to survive both the external and internal challenges. While the industrial environment is more stable than it was before, we will have to negotiate a new MOU with WIPA.  What we will put on the table is a wider distribution of resources, one in which all the players in our regional competitions benefit and not just the players in the senior West Indies team. 

South Africa and Australia use models that spread the wealth and help to improve the bench strength of their teams.  It is not accidental that a Michael Hussey had to wait in the wings for many years but when he did make his appearance on the world stage, he made an immediate impression.  He was, and is, part of a system that is equitable and one we want to put in place so that all those who play regional cricket and who form the pool of talent from which the senior team is chosen, can benefit.  

The West Indies is the sole ICC full member of the Americas Region.  However, the remainder of the Americas region is administered directly by the ICC.  This is an anomaly that the WICB must of necessity correct so that the Office for the Americas comes under our responsibility. It is my proposal that we should incorporate the Cricket Council for the Americas so that it can undertake commercial activities, the profits of which would then be shared by its shareholders. I am pleased to say that this is an issue that is coming up at the ICC Board Meeting later this month.

Within the region, it is clear that we must play more First Class Cricket and must therefore extend our season.  Even though climate change makes our weather even more unpredictable we must explore other venues if necessary, including Broward County, to play additional games.  

We have to find more sponsors and generate more revenue streams.  Our immediate HR priority is to add to our executive team a new Chief Marketing Executive who will be tasked to do this.

Closing

In closing, I would like to thank the Members of the Board for their support and assistance.  We would not have achieved as much as we did were it not for the confidence reposed in me by the Board. We have our work cut out for us next year and I have every confidence in our achieving what we set out to do.

I also want to thank the CEO and his Staff for managing under the pressures of a home series, inadequate staff and a growing array of problems and issues.  The CEO was in the forefront of negotiating the sale of our global media rights, the Stanford 20/20 discussions and all the many other areas in which the Board has been involved.  He was instrumental in ensuring that we had a Draft Strategic Plan and will be vital in our implementation of that Plan.  

To our commercial partners, our sponsors and all the stakeholders of West Indies cricket, we say a special thank you.

Further, I wish to congratulate:

1.    Trinidad and Tobago, the winners of the Stanford Twenty20.
2.    Jamaica, the winners of the CARIB Cup and the KFC Cup.
3.    The West Indies Under-15 team for winning the CLICO International Tournament.
4.    All the other participants who make our competitions possible.

My only hope now is that our cricket continues to improve.  We have provided the players with terms and conditions that are among the best in the world.  They are the second-highest paid team in international cricket.  

While there is evidence of a new spirit in the team and of a new attitude to the game, we expect to see an improvement in our win/loss ratio by December 2008 and at least a one-step upward movement in our international ranking.  We already have the threat that the last three teams, numbers 8, 9 and 10, might be relegated to their own league.  We are now at Number 8 and unless we move up and out, we will continue to have this threat hanging over our heads.  However, if we improve our standing in the world game, our fortunes will undoubtedly improve and our attempts to generate revenue through sponsorships and merchandising will all bear fruit. 

In order for that to happen, the impetus, the leadership, the direction and the effort must come from us.  At the end of the day, as the sun sets on the playing field, we of the WICB stand alone on the pitch.  We have to secure it, to prepare it, to roll it and to ensure that the conditions we create are favourable to the interests of West Indies Cricket.  This is both our task and our duty.  We are the stewards of the game in the region. The legacy has been entrusted to us to pass on to future generations. 

I believe that we of this present Board are fully conscious of our place and responsibility.  I know from what we are doing and from what we have achieved, and I can assure all of you, that West Indies cricket is in good hands and that we will continue to do our duty honestly and faithfully in the best interests of the game we all love. 

* This report was delivered to the Annual General Meeting of the WICB today (June 7) in Trinidad & Tobago.