Missing In Action (MIA) is a military term used to describe a soldier’s disappearance, either from within the ranks or worse from the actual field of battle. It’s a term that now readily comes to mind with regards to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the representative union body for the Caribbean regions’ cricketers, given its very conspicuous absence from the public domain within recent months.
Earlier this year, in March 2021 to be exact, WIPA had publicly announced its launching of a Mentorship Initiative. In expressing WIPA’s strong belief “that the rich knowledge and wealth of experience that endures in West Indies cricket is crucial to the development of our present and future cricketers,” the release stated that the Mentorship Initiative “will connect former West Indies cricketers with current players with the aim to assist in empowering players to unlock their full potential on and off the field, a process that will be open to all West Indies players.”
The release also indicated WIPA’s intention to “play an active role in coordinating the exchanges between former and current players, being mindful of the unique experiences and skill sets of mentors.” Former West Indies’ men’s and women’s teams captains Clive Lloyd and Melissa Aguilleira, as well as Ian Bishop and Jimmy Adams, were identified as the first mentors to have agreed to participate in the initiative.
Individually and collectively we were both excited by the announcement of the initiative for several reasons. Not the least of those was that it was actually an idea that we had discussed several times ourselves as being much needed long before WIPA’s announcement of its intentions to make it a reality. Given the ongoing struggles of some of the West Indies’ Test cricketers to fully realize their obvious potential in terms of talent, to us it seemed that the announcement of the initiative couldn’t have been any more timely.
In the now six-plus months that have passed since WIPA’s public announcement of its Mentorship Initiative, however, there has been absolutely no evidence of any further activity towards its actual implementation. At least not in the public domain.
In the interim, this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) also revealed some very exciting talent, young, up and coming West Indies cricketers. The advice and guidance that could be provided through WIPA’s Mentorship Initiative of which would be of indisputable benefit to their individual and collective further development.
As a means of ascertaining as to whether there had been any “behind the scenes” activity concerning the initiative, we conducted a mini poll among some former, indisputably, outstanding West Indies players. Those who in anyone’s book would automatically qualify as mentors for any such initiative.
Colin Croft, Jeffrey Dujon, Michael Findlay, Lance Gibbs, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Deryck Murray and Sir Andy Roberts were those who we were able to establish contact, either directly or indirectly, with our inquiry as to whether anyone from WIPA had been in contact with them in regards to being involved with the Initiative as a mentor. Of the foregoing, Croft was the only person who indicated that he had indeed been contacted, by WIPA’s president Wavell Hinds about three months ago. Again, none of the others have, to date, received any such outreach from anyone representing WIPA.
Guided by our desire to provide an objective report on this now seemingly stagnant initiative, we also contacted WIPA’s secretary Wayne Lewis, through an extended telephone conversation. Lewis indicated that he was not in any position to offer any information about the initiative as the control over its implementation had been vested wholly in the hands of Wavell Hinds as WIPA’s president and CEO.
Lewis was quick to suggest, however, that the WIPA’s noticeable lack of public visibility within the past few months was merely a continuation of a deliberate decision the association had made following Hinds’ assumption of its presidential duties. One of Hinds’ very first actions in his role, initially as acting president before his subsequent official election to the post, was to ensure that WIPA’s interactions with Cricket West Indies (CWI) on behalf of its members would be conducted behind closed doors and distinctly outside of the public’s eye.
Lewis described the previous, often publicly played out, interactions between the respective presidents of WIPA and Cricket West Indies, the belligerent West Indies and Trinidadian Ex-player president Didnath Ramnarine on the part of the former and Jamaica’s Dave Cameron as the latter, as having been distinctly caustic. According to Lewis, since Hinds’ replacement of Ramnarine in the WIPA presidential role the association’s interactions with CWI have instead become most cordial and mutually respectful.
According to Lewis, this has been a direct outcome of an agreement that was jointly made by Hinds, on behalf of WIPA and Cameron as CWI’s representative. Those two presidents had agreed that while it was understood that the two bodies would also have their differences, the resolution of any ensuing disputes would henceforth be done “behind closed doors and not in front of the cameras” as had happened far too often before.
Lewis did acknowledge, however, that the perception among some players of the relationship between the fellow Jamaicans Hinds and Cameron was that it was too cozy, together with their abject dissatisfaction of how it had represented their actions and interests following the West Indies teams’ abandonment of its 2014 India Tour had subsequently resulted in a massive reduction in WIPA’s membership. Asked directly as to how many of the current West Indies Test players are still WIPA members, Lewis was unable to provide an actual number. The only two player’s names he was able to provide as current WIPA members were those of Shimron Hetmeyer and Fabian Allen. By contrast, he was far more familiar with the names of players who are no longer WIPA members easily rattling off the names of Sunil Narine, the Bravo brothers Darren and Dwayne, along with that of the West Indies’ “white ball” cricket captain Kieron Pollard.
WIPA’s now questionable membership numbers among current West Indies players could well, therefore, be the spanner that has become a paralyzing wrench to the actual implementation of its Mentorship Initiative. While any player of West Indies’ first-class cricket is eligible to become a WIPA member, it now seems obvious that the numbers of those who are may be relatively low.
Lewis also indicated that WIPA has already begun preparations for its forthcoming negotiations with CWI on a new Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the two bodies. The existing MOU will expire in July 2023.
Unless rectified and significantly increased between now and the time the new MOU negotiations are started, WIPA’s questionable membership numbers will, however, surely serve to undermine its bargaining strength. As such it may even prove to be more difficult for WIPA to secure an MOU that will be satisfying to the players it represents, whether they are members or not, than it has apparently been for it to achieve any meaningful progress towards the implementation of its much-touted Mentorship Initiative.
Whither WIPA indeed!
About the writers:
Guyana-born, Toronto-based, Tony McWatt now serves as Cricket Canada’s Media Relations Manager. He is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted towards Caribbean and Canadian readers. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt.
Guyana-born Reds (Perreira) has served as a world-recognized West Indies Cricket Commentator for well over fifty years. Reds made his broadcasting debut during the 1971 West Indies-India Test Series, and has commentated on hundreds of matches since then!
