Dear Editor,
The two test victories by the West Indies team against England in Barbados and Antigua give a glimmer of hope to the tens of thousands of Caribbean fans across the region and the wider world, but most of us still have doubts whether the Windies team will continue the victorious trend. The reason being that all is not well with Cricket West Indies (CWI). There is still dissatisfaction in many areas: rifts between players and administration, allegations of insularity, players’ grouses and a host of others.
Former Prime Minister of Jamaica, PJ Patterson, an ardent cricket fan and supporter headed a committee of former cricket officials and journalists and presented an extensive report in which 65 recommendations were made. Unfortunately only a few were adhered to and the call to reconstitute the Board has so far been ignored. Only one aspect has been implemented, a little over a year ago, the renaming of the West Indies Cricket Board to Cricket West Indies. This was done in order to create a separate commercial body. Unfortunately to date no commercial body has been established. Dave Cameron has been President since 2013 and he remains at the helm despite constant criticisms about his administration. Courtney Browne, an English-born Barbadian who has been a selector for more than a decade continues to be on the panel although he is being accused of favouring Barbadians. He has been chairman for four years.
CWI participates at three levels: Tests, One Day Internationals, T20 and the selectors name different squads for each category. Test cricket seems to be on the decline with the advent of T20 cricket which format attracts the outstanding players because of the remuneration being offered to the players. Lance Gibbs, Basil Butcher and other players of yesteryear say that they were paid crumbs as compared to what the players receive nowadays. And because of the fabulous pay the outstanding cricketers receive they are not too keen to play for the West Indies especially Test matches which last for five days. Speaking about test matches I cannot see why the organizers schedule test matches in small territories which attract limited crowds. In the current series the first Test was played in Barbados, the second in Antigua and the last will be played in St. Lucia. There are allegations that Guyana is being sidelined by CWI hence the reason why only one player is in the squad. A call has been made for the Republic to break away from CWI and seek international status from the ICC. This is not likely because there is problem in there because the Berbice Cricket Board an affiliate of the Guyana Cricket Board is at loggerheads with its parent body and a lawsuit is pending in the Courts.
There are too many problems which will hinder progress and as such I do not see that West Indies cricket will go back to the glory days with Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Rohan Kanhai, Andy Roberts and others.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
