It has been a long time coming but the recently-announced franchise system to be implemented by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is aimed at raising the bar for West Indies cricket.
With the region finally making the move to use a franchise system in the annual domestic season, the WICB made their plans known during a recent media briefing for the signing of their Collective Bargaining Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding with the West Indies Players’ Association.
Speaking after the signing of the first agreement in ten years, WICB Director of Cricket Richard Pybus stated that the region’s cricket suffered from the absence of such a system as it was commonplace in all territories under the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) umbrella. “The West Indies have been trying to compete in a semi-amateur way with sides that are wholly professional and have incredible resources that are focused on purely on getting excellence out of first-class players and the international sides. This a key step in the journey back towards international excellence and back to being number one.â€
Pybus went on to explain that quite a bit of work needs to be put in if the West Indies were to make a return to glory. “What we are producing at international level, is a production of what we have been doing at first-class level in the region and we have been off the pace, so we have a gap to close. The professionalisation is the first step in that and there will be the appointment of key positions within that, with regards to how we are preparing our athletes. They will be working for 12 months out of the year, both in season and out of season. Strength and conditioning, sports psychology so that we are producing athletes which will go into the West Indies team so that Clive (Lloyd) and his selectors can really start to handpick the best talent and for the coaching staff to go on melding it together into a world-class operation.†he said.
Also on hand and taking the time out to weigh in on the new system, WICB Chairman of Selectors, Clive Lloyd said that another issue that plagued the West Indies was the mixed up teams where players would be used across all formats of the game. He explained that he would like to see a situation where there were settled sides where the One Day and Test matches are concerned. “I do not think it is fair on any captain when you have [a] team with five missing today, then tomorrow you have another five. It’s chopping and changing. You have to have the continuity and the togetherness, and that is where the team spirit comes about, and that is why the board is doing what they are doing. If you look at all the other countries, they have the same thing. New Zealand, when they have their cricket, everybody goes home. Australia, Pakistan, India, England. They have a group of players that they play with often and we will never get further up that ladder if we continue to have that sporadic sort of situation that we have. We need to get that right.†Lloyd said.
With his calculations showing that there would be no major improvements until after the first three years of the implementation of the franchise system. Pybus stated that he was sure that it would catapult West Indies cricket back to a position of glory on the world stage. “This is going to be fantastic for the players. We are going to be able to support players better, we are going to be able to provide for them better. They’re going to be able to get bursaries, they are going to be able to get a competitive wage in a competitive marketplace which is going to be fantastic in terms of the product we put on the field,†he said. (MP)
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