Windies scrap development unit

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) plans to scrap their cricket development unit and set up a new high performance outfit under Tony Howard and Bennett King. The plan, which was prepared by a WICB sub-committee chaired by vice president Val Banks, will be presented to the board of directors for approval at a board meeting yesterday. According to well-placed sources, the combined unit will be headed by the team manager and will comprise the head coach, his staff of assistants and a High Performance Manager overseeing territorial development officers (TDOs) around the region. It is not yet clear how current chief cricket development officer Dr Michael Seepersaud fits into the new structure.

Seepersaud, the last remaining WICB staffer hired by former president Pat Rousseau, could assume the position of High Performance Manager but such a move is seen as a demotion for the Guyanese. Seepersaud’s unit has been in charge of cricket development in the Caribbean under a WICB strategic plan that was put in place by the Pat Rousseau/Clarvis Joseph administration in 2001. The unit currently manages the Scotiabank-sponsored Kiddy Cricket programme, the integration of women’s cricket and the work of the TDOs in each member territory. It was also in charge of the annual academy programme, training workshops and a coaching accreditation system for budding coaches throughout the Caribbean.

All that will now be folded into the Team Operations outfit and sources say the long term plan is to find a new sponsor to set up a fulltime academy at UWI’s Cave Hill campus in Barbados. CL Financial, Ltd., the Trinidad and Tobago conglomerate, is the front-runner to sponsor the new academy. The WICB’s last academy programme was cancelled after the Shell sponsorship expired and funding could not be found to fund this year’s programme.

The source said the plan is to set up a high-tech facility at Cave Hill with all the necessary high-speed cameras, software and equipment to perform remedial programmes for batsmen and bowlers. The plan also details the use of satellite academies in each territory. Several regional financial institutions have been approached, with the help of Bennett King, to fund the hiring of national coaches on a fulltime basis to run the mini academies. The WICB is expected to provide details on the initiative after this weekend’s board meeting.