The cricket strategy and officiating committee of Cricket West Indies, comprising a group of former legends and current leaders, have identified key areas of focus to raise the standard of West Indies cricket as well as short- and long-term actions. In the next six months, the CWI said, specialist coaches will be hired, a “state-of-the-art” high-performance centre will be set up, and there will be close coordination with franchises that employ West Indian cricketers so player fitness can be monitored.
The committee, set up in August in the aftermath of West Indies’ 27 all out against Australia in Kingston, Jamaica, brought together Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, Shai Hope, Roston Chase and Ramnaresh Sarwan, among others. The first step was to identify the challenges faced by West Indies cricket. A CWI statement on Thursday listed the major issues as:
- Declining quality of regional tournaments
- Technical, tactical, and mental skills deficiencies
- Underperforming franchise system
- Gaps in infrastructure and facilities
- Lack of specialist coaching support
- Limited ICC revenue share and financial constraints
- Fragmented player development pathways
- Inadequate fitness and conditioning standards
These, as well as the “action items” were “presented to and approved” by the CWI’s board of directors on September 25 at the quarterly meeting.
In the short term, within the next months, “an internationally proven batting coach will be hired to work across the system, and a full-time sports psychologist/performance coach will join the senior men’s team” while “the women’s team role will also be upgraded to a full-time role”. That aside, “a capital [high-performance] project proposal will be advanced for a state-of-the-art facility at Coolidge Cricket Ground, including modern nets, gym, and rehabilitation infrastructure”, and “franchise teams will now submit individual development plans and meet new minimum standards” with player fitness “closely tracked, supported by a new regional fitness leaderboard”.
The longer-term actions are more exhaustive, and include:
- A national cricket development framework unifying grassroots, school, academy, and high-performance pathways
- Comprehensive franchise reform to ensure accountability for player development and consideration of alternative professional models
- Establishment of standardised academies for ages 11-18 to feed into the high-performance programme
- Completion of the high-performance centre in Antigua as the regional hub for elite development
- Greater focus on financial sustainability, including lobbying for equitable ICC revenue distribution and new partnerships with governments, private entities, and philanthropists
- A structured mentorship framework connecting current and former West Indies players with emerging talent
In early August, at the time the committee members met the press, Lara had said, “It’s been that case for years, where we are not in the same level-playing field as other playing countries. Back in the days when skill was the prominent factor, we excelled, we were the best team in the world. But the game has evolved, and technology and analytics, and we now have to see a new way of finding ourselves back to being very competitive.
“I said not a level-playing field because a lot of the countries are far ahead in these sorts of areas. The skill factor of the game is still there, but not as prominent as it was in the past.
“It’s a long road; it’s not going to happen tomorrow. It was not about the 27 runs. If it was 57 or 107, will we be feeling any better? I don’t think so. It was the fact that we’ve got something to address, and for us to get back on top, or to be a competitive nation in world cricket, we’ve got to address these situations and address them shortly, quickly, and hopefully we can reap the benefits in the years to come.”
In many ways, it’s a starting point for West Indies cricket – at the moment, there is a women’s ODI World Cup which West Indies failed to qualify for, while the men are on the back foot after just one day’s play in a two-Test series in India – and CWI’s director of cricket, Miles Bascombe said, “While challenges remain, our commitment to cricket development across the region is unwavering, and all efforts will be made to prioritise the execution of these initiatives.”
ESPNCricinfo
