Tony BeccaTHE West Indies team is not as strong as it used to be, it is not winning as it used to do and in one of its efforts to improve the standard of play and thus the performance of the team the West Indies Board has decided to increase the number of teams in the Busta Cup tournament to eight.
Next time around, in January 2001, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands will be joined by the A team of England and a West Indies Youth team in the battle for the championship of the West Indies.
According to the board, the participation of the England A team - to be replaced in subsequent years by the A teams from Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa - will add to the quality of the tournament and will therefore be important to the development of the region's players while the participation of the youth team will assist in the development of the younger players.
Although the England A team, which should be stronger than any of the territorial teams, will definitely add some quality to the tournament, even though the participation of the Youth team will provide exposure for the young players, the presence of one was motivated by economics and not development, and the presence of the other was motivated by the desire to have eight teams instead of seven for the simple reason that the uneven number would make the tournament too long.
Whatever the reasons put forward by the proposers, whatever were the reasons why the inclusion of a country's A team and the Youth team was accepted, something is basically wrong with it.
Asfar as the participation of the England A team is concerned, the Busta Cup is the region's championship, it should be reserved for teams from the region and no A team from any country should be allowed to contest it. There are some things in life worth protecting.
As far as the Youth team is concerned, the Busta Cup is the region's championship, it should be reserved for the territorial teams and no other team should be allowed to participate. A competition is a competition.
There is also another concern re the participation of the Youth team which, it is understood, will be selected based on performances in the preceding regional youth tournament.
The teams have an obligation to put out their best players for the Busta Cup and over the years a few youth players have been numbered among the best and have represented the teams. Based on the proposal, however, that will no longer be so.
According to the proposal, or what has been gleaned re the proposal, the players selected for the Youth team will not be able to represent their respective country and, if that is so, that is one more reason why there should be no Youth team in the tournament - one more reason why its inclusion will only make a mockery of the tournament.
If the Busta Cup is the championship of the region the territories should be able to select their best players - regardless of their age, but then if the best young players are not available for the Youth team what is the purpose of the Youth team playing in the competition.
The board obviously means well, but the answer to the West Indies problem is not to turn the Busta Cup into a mockery by including A teams from the other Test-playing countries or a Youth team.
The problem of West Indies cricket is more than what happens in the Busta Cup. It is what is happening in the schools, in the clubs, to cricket in general, and although, according to its release, the board will be saving money with the A team playing in the tournament instead of being involved in a tour, the money spent on the Youth team's participation would be better spent in lifting the standard in the schools and the clubs.
It would be good, for example, to make a few coaches available to the schools, and with an annual youth tournament in place, to have a regional club championship.
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