Executive chairman of GraceKennedy, Douglas Orane, has called for a dramatic change to the structure and governance of West Indies cricket.
"It is incumbent on all of us to make our voices heard loudly and clearly, armed with the facts, that the time has come for a dramatic change to the structure and governance of the West Indies Cricket Board as called for by the Patterson Report. I now vociferously add my voice to this demand for change," said Orane, who was speaking at the Jamaica Cricket Association Awards, which was held on Friday, March 1, at the Mona Visitors' Lodge and Conference Centre.
Orane threw out a challenge to the West Indies Cricket Board against the background of what he calls the "tremendous opportunities" that reside within West Indies international cricket.
Referring to the Patterson Report of 2007, which called for a major overhaul of the governance structure of West Indies Cricket, and specifically the West Indies Cricket Board, Orane noted the "universal disappointment and frustration" at the report's non-implementation. In noting that five years have passed since the report was done, Orane posed the question, "What will precipitate the change before the opportunities in international cricket wither away before our very eyes?"
Caribbean people to be more vocal
He urged Caribbean people to become more vocal in advocating for the changes in governance to take place.
"My conclusion is that the answer lies within our own Caribbean people," he said. "West Indies cricket belongs to the people of the Caribbean and until each of us informs ourselves more fully about the size of the stakes involved, we will not have the sense of urgency for these changes in governance to take place."
Orane pointed to two specific opportunities that he thought were not being taken advantage of, the first being China's reported serious interest in playing cricket throughout the country, and the subsequent demand for 1,000 coaches. He asked, "How have we turned this to our advantage in terms of building our international reach, and specifically providing employment for more of our coaches?"
He also revealed that the West Indies Cricket Board was assigned geographic responsibility for cricket throughout most of North and South America.
He said that this represented an opportunity to proactively expand the playing of cricket throughout the Americas, creating a global business for Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean.
He advocated for those who had benefited from club cricket to return to those clubs to transform them, whether through coaching, mentorship, cash or kind, thereby giving talented school leavers a way through club cricket to national teams, advancing at the same rate of improvement as their contemporaries in other countries.
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