DAVE CAMERON CAN RESCUE WEST INDIES CRICKET

In March of this year the “Old Boys Network” banded together and re-elected Wycliffe Dave Cameron as President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for a second term. The record will show that this writer wholly and completely opposed such a selection, not because of Cameron as an individual but because I believe that a reappointment would have been a huge mistake given the events of last year which culminated in the abandonment of the Indian Tour. This fiasco has saddled the broke and dysfunctional WICB with a claim from the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI) of US$42 million. It was my view then (as it is still) that West Indies Cricket requires a deep review and that until such a review is conducted and the recommendations fully considered, the game in the region needs perhaps to take a break. In any event, the game in the region while not yet dead, has been dying a slow torturous death; not because of the sport itself but because those who have placed themselves in the positions to administer it are vision-less and as the great Marcus Mosiah Garvey once said: “without vision we shall all perish”
It is my view that the current WICB has no vision and its administration lacks the trust and confidence of its players (and for whatever value this has) the trust and confidence of the respective governments and people of the Caribbean region. One direct result of this has been the continued floundering of the on field game in the region as well as its inability to attract qualified and effective people in the area of administering the sport. Testament of this was Cameron’s opponent in the WICB leadership race Joel Garner, a valiant soldier of sport himself but hardly any managerial credentials to support his candidacy.
A few weeks ago we witnessed the Mexican standoff between Cameron and Caricom Cricket Committee’s chairman, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell. This followed the submission of a report from the CARICOM cricket review on the Region’s game and its management given the terms of its appointment.  The panel was appointed by the Prime Ministerial Committee to review the governance and administrative structure of the WICB in the wake of the disaster that engulfed the board after the abandonment of the West Indies tour of India in 2014 and BCCI slapping the WICB with a $41.97 million fine.
The panel interviewed various stakeholders including the management of the board, renowned former West Indies players, current players, territorial boards and a host of other key personalities attached to the game in the region. In its report, the panel essentially labelled the current governance structure as antiquated and obsolete and was even more damning of the WICB in the findings it submitted in a fairly sizeable report which listed among is conclusions that the WICB's governance structure had failed to evolve and that it did not prioritize accountability and transparency. The panel suggested that "It is now past the time to accept that the current governance structures are obsolete and that there is an inherent and as yet unresolved tension between the evolution of the game of cricket into a powerful, professionally driven, entertainment and sporting industry and a system of governance predicated on an earlier, more simplified set of requirements. In this regard, the Panel strongly recommends the immediate dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board and the appointment of an Interim Board whose structure and composition will be radically different from the now proven, obsolete governance framework. These two key measures are absolutely necessary in order to transform and modernize the governance, management, administration and the playing of the game."
The response of the WICB to a request from Dr. Mitchell for an urgent meeting to discuss the report was predictable. Dr. Mitchell all but accused Cameron of avoiding the meeting. Cameron maintained that the Board’s schedule was too crowded to accommodate such a meeting and deferred the request for consideration at the WICB’s scheduled board meeting in St. Lucia held earlier this week. Such a reaction was clearly predictable as no one would expect a rush from the WICB to discuss a report that was calling for its dissolution. In the meantime, the teams’ ineptness continued, aptly demonstrating its unimpeded deterioration through another spineless performance against Australia last week. The team lost the first Test inside of three days to add to its pathetically long spiral of insipid performances in the global game.
It would be extremely difficult for any reasonable person to disagree that the current boards’ stewardship provides very little (if any) hope for renewal or revival of the regional game as its management approach to the sport is incongruous with growth and development. Keep in mind that the problems in West Indies cricket have remained the same over the last 15-20 years and this Board has been unable to address the issues central to which are: the lack of cricket development throughout the region, poor on-field performance and the deepening of the team’s unfavorable international reputation which must be of tremendous concern at all levels.
It is against this background that I am calling for Cameron to do the honorable thing, if not for himself, for the region and the game’s once illustrious past and support the call for a reconstitution of the game by moving for a dissolution of the WICB at this time. Cameron as immediate departing President should support fully, the call for an interim management committee to see the transition to a regionally coordinated group to study and implement the recommendations of the Caricom Committee and to finally rescue the Region’s Game
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