ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The journey of returning West Indies cricket to its former glory will not be easy, given the multitude of challenges impacting the region’s standing in the international game, but with the combined, committed efforts of stakeholders and the entire Caribbean cricket community, West Indies cricket’s resurgence is possible.
Those were the sentiments expressed by Cricket West Indies Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring when addressing the media at the conclusion of an emergency two-day summit on Monday at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad.
Members of the Cricket Strategy & Officiating Committee (CSOC), West Indies greats, past players and current players – including current captains Roston Chase and Shai Hope – the Men’s Team Management Unit and CWI Executives, met on Sunday August 10 and Monday August 11 to examine a broad range of interrelated topics affecting team performance.
These included the effectiveness of player development pathways, the quality and competitiveness of domestic competitions, preparation and support systems for international duty, the need for alignment among stakeholders, financial resources, player motivation and retention, and the mental aspects of high-level performance.
Speaking at the post-summit media briefing, which featured a panel of Chair of CSOC, Enoch Lewis, Sir Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, Dehring, CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe, the CWI CEO insisted that a collaborative effort is required to position West Indies cricket at the top of the tree once again.
“I want to emphasize that Cricket West Indies can't do it alone. There are many elements in cricket’s production pipeline that are not within our control, such as age group cricket within the individual countries and school programmes that are run independently.” said Dehring.
“While the raw talent is there, we face an incredible commercial and national resource gap between ourselves and the other cricket playing territories to mine, develop and produce professional cricketers that are fit for purpose."
"That gap, including resources like academies and facilities like high performance centers, can only be bridged if we come together as a region and use what we have to challenge that gap. I have every confidence that collectively, we can overcome these hurdles and put West Indies cricket back where we all know it belongs.”
With a plethora of topics discussed over the two-day summit, the one recurring theme was the recognition that the challenges faced are systemic, with DoC Bascombe stating:
“The strategies we implement, we have to look at addressing them across the entirety of our cricket system. The first part is identifying the challenges at every level of our production pipeline and coming up with the strategies in detail."
"We had a lot of very fruitful discussions, suggestions and recommendations and our role now is to figure out how we put all of that together to ensure that we have a holistic solution that will result in meaningful systemic change for the betterment of West Indies cricket.”
During their contributions to the media briefing, legends Sir Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara spoke about the productiveness of the discussions, noting that they were frank and geared towards impactful actions.
“I think one of the takeaways that I will mention is the fact that we are not on the same level playing field as other playing countries,” said Lara.
“Back in the day where skill was the prominent factor we excelled, but the game has evolved, particularly with technology and analytics. We must now shift our focus towards these areas to find ourselves back to being very competitive.”
Sir Clive made specific reference to the information shared by the current coaching staff:
“They were very clear about the things that are needed and why they are needed. I sincerely hope that we will be able to provide what they have asked for because it was very clear from what was presented, why they are important. So, I look forward to the results in the future.”
The legendary West Indian captain also spoke about the financial disparity that exists in international cricket.
“When we were in the ascendency everybody wanted to play against us, and we became the cash cow for territories like England, Australian and India. Now, we need a better share of the pie.” he said.
Chair of the CSOC, Lewis, emphasized that the purpose of the summit was to obtain honest and wide-ranging feedback on how best to fundamentally restructure and reform West Indies cricket:
“The goal is to ensure that the committee provides the CWI Board with well thought-out and fundamentally sound recommendations that will move West Indies forward to a place where we can all be proud of the end product,” he said.
“We expect that some of these recommendations will be executed over the short term, and others over a longer term, as input from other stakeholders will be essential.”
Dehring indicated that several areas requiring improvement were highlighted during the meeting, including but certainly not limited to improving facilities, practice pitches and regional domestic tournaments.
He also pointed to the difficulty of seeking to correct ingrained technical habits developed through age group and regional play, noting that some skill deficiencies only become apparent at the international level where they become exacerbated.
One preliminary solution included the urgent need for a high-performance center equipped with the latest in professional cricket training facilities and territorial academy systems to instill and reinforce the West Indies cricket methodology from as early as possible in the production pipeline.
In support, Bascombe spoke to the current coaching education and certification system, noting that inadequacies in this area limit the production of regional coaches at the desired level for modern cricket demands.
He referenced CWI’s hiring of a coaching development consultant as a temporary measure to work with franchise coaches, while simultaneously working on a comprehensive programme to upgrade the coaching education system.
In closing, Dehring reiterated that it is now up to every corner of the Caribbean cricketing community to rally behind this vision for growth, because the resurrection of past success will take nothing less than the collective and diligent pursuit of excellence.
Coming out of the summit, CWI Management will now prepare detailed recommendations for the Board of Directors, with immediate attention on moving to implementation.
The public will be kept informed of the Board’s approved actions and the specific plans that will follow.
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