WICB using Under-19 win to say everything is fine

The triumph of the West Indies Under-19 side at the World Cup recently was rightly praised. It was pleasing to see the young side come through unscathed on the world stage, and there were some quality cricketers in the team. For all the well-deserved praise of the young side, however, it is ridiculous that the victory is being used by some at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to portray the image that everything is fine in the Caribbean. The same claim was being made when the senior team won the Twenty20 (T20) World Cup in 2012, but where has our cricket gone since then?

But I suppose that is to be expected. When the whole world is saying something is wrong, the WICB will grab at any passing straw.

I suppose they are looking for reasons to justify Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron, the WICB president, announcing the rejection of the proposals of the Caricom committee, which included the dissolution of the Board among other things. I’m not too sure exactly what the implications are. But it seems as though any report that is published, whether it’s commissioned by the WICB or otherwise, they just ignore it. And if at all they are doing anything, it is implementing those that don’t change the status quo. The Caricom prime ministers are a powerful group of people from the Caribbean with a lot of influence, but every time they say something or try to influence anything, the WICB just ignores it. They keep on saying they’re a private entity, that they are registered outside of the cricket-playing Caribbean, and that their company is responsible only to their directors and shareholders.