Marc Stamp, Gleaner Writer

Michael Muirhead, who is just three months into his job as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), believes that his organisation's Strategic Plan 2011-16 will bring back West Indies to the glory days they enjoyed in cricket.

"The plan is in place for success, so I have to continue implementing the plans we need to better our Test rankings," Muirhead stated at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston yesterday.

Upon his appointment, the Jamaican was given a mandate by WICB president, Dr Julian Hunte, to continue implementation of the plans. Hunte had expressed confidence that the newly appointed CEO would be able to continue the process of overseeing the implementation of the WICB Strategic Plan 2011-16.

At that time, Muirhead had said: "West Indies cricket has been enjoying some recent success and is now positioned to be a competitive force again among the cricketing nations of the world. I will do my utmost to maintain and improve on what has already been put in place, thus among that we as West Indians can once again proudly hold our heads high."

Muirhead lauded the Scotiabank Kiddies Cricket programme and revealed that it is in high demand in some Caribbean countries.

He said: "Other sports such as football, American football and basketball are more attractive to the kids than cricket, so we have to get them to love the game.

"We have programmes that are structured. We need to develop more talents for the Sagicor/WICB High Performance Centre, so we will be having performance centres in each territory then they would graduate to the High Performance Centre that has been a relative success. The High Performance Centre works, but to make it more effective it could be restructured."

Muirhead added: "We need to better our athletes, we have to make sure the necessary things are in place. A year has already gone since the strategic plans, so we must always progress."

When quizzed about his relationship with president Hunte, the CEO said: "He fathers me in terms of bringing perspective to what (the) WICB is all about. He has given me a free hand. Three months on the job is not long, so it's all a learning process for me. I might want to take a direct approach, but we have no problem."

The new CEO also disclosed that he intends to work with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) as best as possible. He pointed out that WIPA's new president, Wavell Hinds, was at the press conference earlier, as well as WIPA CEO Michael Hall, so "that is a good indication".

The 55-year-old Muirhead, a former management consultant, replaced Ernest Hilaire, who stepped down last September after completing a three-year term. The new WICB CEO is also a former executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company of Jamaica.

He has been engaged as a management consultant with several high-level projects in Jamaica; worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers; and served in senior management positions at the National Commercial Bank.