Windies can no longer depend on talent

So said Dr Donald Peters, Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Cricket Board at a panel discussion titled “The Way Forward for West Indies Cricket” staged on Tuesday night at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

“We cannot depend simply on talent, play cricket once a week and try to raise some funds and expect to have an international team that can compete at the highest level, “ said Dr Peters. He said what the WICB has done is to take a step back and identify some of the problems facing the regional game.

He said the West Indies is at a disadvantage being the second smallest cricketing nation in the world with about 4.6 million people and a pool of about 400 players to chose from.

Dr Peters said that the other cricketing nationals of the world play so much more that it is almost impossible for the West Indies to keep up.

Also the environment in which the cricketers in the region emerge from has been closely looked at and it was found that the region has no history of playing the game on a consistent level.

“We have no history of playing the game for six months or ODIs for another two months. But we were champions for a decade and a half. How do you put those two together?” he asked. He said the West Indies team comprise the second youngest team in the world and that some of the characteristics displayed by young people in the region are also displayed by the cricketers.

Dr Peters said that a different approach has been taken to coaching the players and instead of directing them in the approved fashion, they have been allowed options to vary their training methods to suit themselves. “We had to take a different approach to working with them not only telling them how to do things since they may not agree with you and want to find out why they must bowl outside the off-stump.

“A 21-year-old according to the coach will not bowl six balls in the same place, same way as indicated. If they want to change it, they’ll say, ‘Coach, I can’t do that, I’ll bowl two different ones.’ So what we’ve told the coaches is to give them two options so they won’t waste the other two balls,” said Dr Peters.

He said the young players now have access to the administrators and he revealed that they do contact the officials for all kinds of issues some of which have nothing to do with cricket.

“What you have to do as an administrator is to create an environment in which the player feels comfortable at whatever level he plays so that the result you expect is he will perform at a higher level,” said Dr Peters.

The Barbadian, who has a background in education and public policy admitted that the present governing structure of the West Indies Cricket Board poses difficulties but it was left to the stakeholders to change it when they have had enough.

And he revealed that staffing problems continue to bog the administration stating that the WICB has more board members than staff which is the smallest in the world game.

“We have 19 people working at the Cricket Board. David Collier at the ECB has 132. South Africa has 41 and the smallest cricketing nation, besides us, New Zealand has 39.

Despite these drawbacks Dr Peters says the staff is competent although when things go wrong, they along with the CEO are the ones that draw the blame.

He said however that his new philosophy is that, “We are no longer losing.” “If you think about it, since Sri Lanka we have not lost a series and hopefully we will win the next Test match against England and take it from there,” Dr Peters said.

He said that scientific studies are being done which will chart the performance of each player and that psychological profiles of the cricketers are also being undertaken.

Dr Peters outlined several initiatives to maintain the team’s upward growth and development including the re-opening of the regional cricket academy; introduction of critical analysis and thinking in the curriculum and the sourcing of finance to fund the different programmes; and a way to work with the West Indies Players’Associa-tion (WIPA).

“The relationship with the players’ association has not worked in the past. It is more of an obstacle than progress. We have lived through it but the West Indies Cricket Board’s new plan is to produce a new MOU that addresses the salaries and the welfare of all players,” he said. He envisaged a “tiring and complex” effort to get it passed however.