HOBART, Australia, CMC – Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says he hopes West Indies cricket authorities “take on board” the recommendations of CARICOM’s Governance Review Panel.
The longstanding administrator, who had some input during the panel’s review while in Barbados earlier this year, said the problems plaguing the game in the Caribbean could only be addressed by authorities there and hoped they moved in the right direction.
“Ultimately it’s an issue for West Indies cricket how they go,” Sutherland was quoted as saying.
“I was in the West Indies, as in Barbados, in June this year for the ICC conference and I’m fully aware of that review because I was actually part of it. I was there as part of that review and the prime ministers of the nations put together an eminent panel of experts to come up with their recommendations.
“I’ve only seen some headlines out of what their recommendations were to the board. I understand it’s in the hands of the board.
“From my perspective, we get experts together and you all hope people take on board the recommendations just like Australian cricket did at the time we did our own governance review.”
The Governance Review Panel, chaired by UWI Cave Hill Campus principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau, proposed the “immediate dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board and the appointment of an interim board whose structure and composition would be radically different from the now proven, obsolete governance framework.”
Additionally, the panel recommended the resignation of the entire board of directors and the appointment of a change management expert to run the affairs of cricket in the region until the new governance structure could be implemented.
And while chairman of CARICOM’s Cricket Governance Committee, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, said he was confident the board would accept the recommendations, WICB president Dave Cameron has already indicated his concern about the intervention of governments.
“International sporting organisations, such as the IOC, FIFA and the ICC, are concerned about two major things, and that is governance – which has to do with our structures and accountability throughout the organisation – and our autonomy, which means that the organisation and its leadership must be selected free of interference from governments,” Cameron said last month.
“We’re not saying we don’t want the Governments to participate. We’re saying that the decisions of the organisations must not be influenced by governments.”
Cameron and the WICB directors are mulling over the report’s recommendations at a meeting in St Lucia this weekend.
