Big plans to lift West Indies cricket

Tony Becca, Contributor

Last weekend, the West Indies Cricket Board, in a bid to improve the standard of the region's cricket, or to be more exact, to move it to the top, approved some changes that it hope will add to the development process and lead to a more successful team performance.

The changes, some 19 of them, were recommended by Richard Pybus, the board's director of cricket, and carry the goal of lifting the West Indies to the number one position in the world.

Called West Indies First, the 33-page report follows a three-month study of West Indies cricket and its systems by Pybus, and of his 20 recommendations, only one was not accepted.

The changes, many of them, were nothing new, but a few of them were indeed historic and deserving of high praise.

The important changes concern the plan to embark on the full professionalism of first-class cricket, the formation of a captains' council, the appointment of a coaching manager to guide coaching regionally, and the elite coaches pathway which will identify players, current and former, for accelerated training as coaches.

Some of the other moves are nothing new, such as the improvement of pitches, the home-and-away format of matches to make for a longer season, and, in some aspects, the professional administrative and coaching staff for each first-class teams.

Voting rights

Some of the teams, like Jamaica, have had professional staff, paid staff, for quite some time.

Another change also involves making the head coach and the captain team selectors, with the coach having voting rights.

The professionalism of first-class cricket will see 15 players from each first-class team contracted as professionals, structured year-round cricket programme for the first-class players, structured year-round programmes also for the West Indies contracted players, and a longer first-class season.

The plans are all good, and the hope is that they do come through in the interest of West Indies cricket.

I remember what happened to things like these in the past, and I hope that they will never be repeated.

I remember that the West Indies once had return matches in its regional tournament and that despite its success, in spite of the batsmen making use of the longer tournament by scoring more runs, it was stopped because some of the senior players complained that it was too long and boring.

I remember also in the days of Jamaica's county championship, a two-day tournament which featured some of the West Indies contracted players, when many of the West Indies players turned up with sick mothers and aunts, fathers and uncles, in places like Canada and England, and were excused from some of the matches.

I hope, really hope, nothing like that happens this time around.

I welcome the contractual arrangements for 15 players from each first-class team, and most of all, the structured year-round programme for all of them, including the West Indies players.

I welcome the coach becoming a selector because as a selector the players will be, or maybe, more inclined to listen to him knowing he has a say in who makes the team, and I welcome back the longer first-class season on the basis that the more one plays, the better he will become.

I am, however, happy, extremely happy, for the formation of the captains' council.

According to the release, the council plans to "utilise the cricket knowledge and experience of some of the world's greatest cricketers, tapping into the cricket wisdom of the former great West Indies captains to inform cricket policy and implementations".

For too long these players, who had so much to offer, were left out in the cold, or not treated with the respect they deserved as former captains.

My sincere wish, however, is that the former players do not take this to mean that everyone will be involved and do not, like typical West Indians, feel 'dissed' if they are not included in the programme.

Good recommendations

Apart from the fact that every past player was not great, it is impossible for everyone to be involved. Everyone cannot be officially involved.

Hats off to Pybus for his recommendations, and hats off also to Dave Cameron and his directors for accepting them.

They are good recommendations, some of them are very good, and the hope is that the board will be able to find the right people to fill the positions which will be available, that the people will be West Indians, that they will not be influenced by the insularity in the region, that they will work in the interest of West Indies cricket, and that the players will chip in and play their part.

The board will have to wheel and deal to satisfy the players, however. The value of the contracts will be important, for contract or no contract, the players, those with the ability to do so, are hardly likely to respond positively to their year-round obligations, and not with more attractive contracts elsewhere.

The plans are great, no doubt about that. Based on the state of West Indian cricket, however, based on the absent spectators, up to now, based on the fact that West Indies cricket is broke, or nearly broke, according to the directors themselves, where will the money come from to accomplish all this?