Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2012

21 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society adapt to the modern sporting era and did not, whilst in the ascendancy, respond the need to build a regional infrastructure for success – easier said than done when the West Indies is only an entity in cricket – and without strong leadership, easily becomes a region hard to organise. As money became more accessible (particularly to other cricket Boards and cricketers), so disputes between the Board and its players (and Players’ Association) became more commonplace. What should have been a chance for cricket to regain centre stage in the Caribbean, the World Cup in 2007, was the worst edition ever as crowds were over priced and policed by ICC and the legacy appeared to be larger stadiums with fewer fans, especially for Test Cricket where the Windies were now struggling. The advance of IPL and T20 saw a relationship with Allan Stanford that at least revived some interest in island cricket but ended in tears. No more so than when certain players professed more interest in the riches on offer in India than representing their region. Another factor has more recently emerged whereby other than in T20, there is a lack of opportunity to further cricket education in other regions, specifically England, where the competition these days is Antipodeans (as before) but also now rafts of Kolpak South Africans plying their trade in county and league cricket in an effort to earn hard currency. So is it all doom & gloom? Not at all. Although the Caribbean is a small economy struggling in a world recession, the natural cricketing talent is still there in abundance. It’s just that now cricket has to be really organised in order to compete with the likes of India & of course England - who have grown in stature since the formation of ECB and are now top of two piles (T20 Champions and Test Rankings) after 14 years’ determined work. After several CEOs came and went in the early 2000s, Dr Ernest Hilaire took the reins at WICB in late 2009 and has already started to transform the way in which cricket is organised. A Cricket Academy was launched in Barbados last year, a revitalised Kiddies Cricket programme has been re-launched and a new secondary school programme introduced. Concerted moves are in place to raise standards of cricket clubs, pitches, umpires & coaches to name just a few key areas. The new men’s team under Darren Sammy is beginning to show competitive signs, evidenced by Devandra Bishoo winning the ICC Emerging Player of 2011. Darren Bravo has real potential as does Kemar Roach and several others. Meanwhile the men’s age group teams – Under 19, Academy, and Combined Campuses & Colleges are beginning to bear fruit. Windies Women are climbing up the rankings and the Caribbean T20 (in which English Counties now participate) is drawing back the crowds with Trinidad & Tobago the latest winners of this flagship competition earlier this year. The England Lions found the 4 Day competition in February/March very competitive, only winning 2 of their 7 matches. With a new strategic plan having been launched this autumn, watch out for a Caribbean cricket revival. It may take some time and the road may not always be smooth, but one thing is for sure: once the Windies start performing and rising up the rankings, the crowds will return and success should bring its rewards with a greater level of corporate/media support and investment so that the virtuous circle associated with well organised cricketing organisations can be put in place. Keep an eye on www.windiescricket.com for more developments!