Murray says CWI must be dissolved, fears West Indies will ‘drift into irrelevance’

An interim administration is among Deryck Murray’s suggestions 

Former West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray is the latest on a long list of past players to raise concerns regarding the current state of cricket in the region. The 82-year-old has questioned the “direction” of West Indies cricket, as well as Cricket West Indies’ ability to competently address the long-standing issues plaguing the sport, including poor on-field results. 

While the West Indies batted valiantly in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand to earn a draw, the crux of the matter for the Trinbagonian is something else. “We get a one-off performance like that every few months,” Murray soft-pedalled, “maybe every year, and we think we've turned the corner—we are not at the corner; we are on a roundabout.”

Speaking on Mason and Guest, Murray went on to question, “Who is steering the car? Which direction are we trying to go in? What is happening?” He predicts that without an overhaul of CWI, the West Indies will eventually lose its value in international cricket. 

“I think we have reached a very significant point in West Indies cricket where the future can take [one of] two extreme courses,” he began to explain. “One is that we maintain the status quo, and we continue to drift into irrelevance.”

According to the former West Indies vice-captain, CWI’s open-mindedness and acceptance of individual territories competing at the Olympics foreshadow a changing tide. “I am very, very disappointed that the West Indies board has not approached the International Olympic Committee for special dispensation for there to be a West Indies cricket team—that has been in existence for 100 years—to be represented at the Olympics,” Murray passioned. 

“It seems as though we have not approached that as being something the West Indies [team] should be part of, and that it should be individual territories. That's a big, big disappointment for me. And if that continues, then the West Indies as a cricket entity will drift into irrelevance.”

Just last week, CWI’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Dehring, publicly acknowledged the organisation is anticipating a decrease in the frequency with which teams such as Windward Islands and Leeward Islands compete as multinational outfits. Dehring argued that the way forward lies in adaptation rather than resistance to the changing landscape.

If the current regime lacks vision, then according to Murray, the other possible course must be in direct contradiction—therefore intentional. He suggests targeting 2028, which will mark Windies’ centennial in Tests, as the catalyst for change. For that to be implemented, however, he says two things must happen: CWI must be replaced, and the varying reports on governance reform must be adopted. He purports an interim administration to facilitate the change.

Murray suggests "disbanding the West Indies Cricket Board (CWI), as it currently exists and functions, and having an interim committee of five or six people working with those three reports" from Patterson, Barriteau, and Wehby.

Murray argues that the common theme with the 2007 Patterson, 2015 Barriteau, and 2020 Wehby reports is a “radical reform of the governance.” An observation that proved to be the answer to his previous question. “The person at the steering wheel of West Indies cricket is the governance,” he resigned. It is on that premise that he expounded on his vision.

“The interim board will run West Indies cricket for the next two years, maximum,” Murray said. “They need to put in place the new structure by 2028 and be responsible for putting in place the [recommendations] from those committees that have made significant contributions in terms of trying to help to reform and restructure West Indies cricket.”

Murray conceded that CWI would need to “vote themselves out of office” to initiate the process but insists there is evidence enough to warrant this as a valid option. He pointed to CWI President Dr Kishore Shallow's recent appointment to the St Vincent and the Grenadines cabinet. 

“To have the president of CWI as a functioning minister of government, especially one who has two portfolios—he cannot do that job (fulfill his commitment to CWI),” he said. “Therefore, we need to appeal to him that in leaving, he must work with the president of the CARICOM subcommittee and take the [rest of] the board with him.”

Murray has championed the involvement of CARICOM’s Cricket Sub-Committee to oversee the transition from the interim administration to the new board in 2028.