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By Dr. Basil Springer
“In every effort there is gain, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” – Proverbs 14:23
Former West Indies cricket captain Carl Hooper was known by the sobriquet ‘Sir Carl’ as he stroked the ball elegantly around Kensington Oval in a manner that reminded Barbadian fans of Sir Frank Worrell and, later, Lawrence Rowe, in their prime Theirs.
“Since 1993, we have been fighting and certainly judging by the results, there is no policy or system that has been implemented that is changing the downward course we are on,” the Guyanese great told ABC Sport recently.
Carl Hooper is the latest professional voice to lament the continued decline in the performance of West Indies cricket teams. He has called for changes at the top.
The 2010 documentary Fire in Babylon outlined the immediate actions taken to boost the performance of the West Indies cricket team, following a humiliating defeat by Australia in 1975/76, to the point where they dominated world cricket for more than 15 years with a mostly multi-talented team. , cricket entertainers. But alas, this has not been maintained.
The governing body of cricket in the West Indies, the Cricket West Indies (CWI), has tried many things, and yet Windies cricket continues to fall beyond the depths of despair.
I interpret Carl Hooper’s remarks as calling for (1) a total re-engineering of the West Indies Cricket structure; (2) disruptive innovation as we address the many pressing issues we face; and (3) cricket to be run as a successful business.
There are millions of supporters of West Indies cricket both in the West Indies and in the diaspora. Most of them are disenfranchised in the sense that they cannot vote for CWI leaders. This privilege is limited to certain members of the cricket associations of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands. It is a closed shop.
If these millions of supporters were mobilized into a well-funded West Indies Cricket Supporters’ Club, this could be the source of hundreds of millions of dollars a year which, through sponsorship and other sources of income, would ensure the security of financial continuity for the administration. of West Indies cricket eg board, management and staff, brand marketing, construction and maintenance of facilities, preparation of high quality pitches, coaches, selectors, under-15 youth development, attractive contracts of players and balanced game schedules.
If our cricketers are globally competitive at U-15 and development support is sustained, then they will continue to be competitive at U-19 and when eventually selected for the senior West Indies teams.
It is the norm rather than the exception that major global sports, including football, athletics, American football, tennis, cycling, rugby, motor racing, basketball, field hockey, ice hockey and cricket, are run as successful businesses.
Successful businesses manage their systems well.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, its members include 108 national associations, with 12 full members and 96 associate members.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body of cricket in the West Indies and is a full member of the ICC. CWI must manage its business systems well to achieve sustainable success. We need to start with radical changes in the structure of West Indies cricket to address the issues outlined above and to embed cricket as a sustainable thriving business sector in Caribbean economies. CWI should transform cricket into a big industry where victories are achieved on and off the field.
But where do we start? Perhaps with fewer words and more effort.
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is an Engine Replacement Consultant. His email address is [email protected] His columns can be found at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com).
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