Barbados Today article.

Cricketing legend Sir Everton Weekes is hoping that the successes enjoyed by the West Indies teams in global competitions this year signal a beginning of a turn around in the fortunes of West Indies cricket.

Sir Everton, the only surviving member of the legendary Three Ws, also said he hoped the crowds would return to support the teams whenever the play in the region.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY after yesterday’s exciting victories by both the men’s and women’s teams in the World T20 tournament in Kolkata, India, the former test batsman contended that the victories, along with the earlier success of the under 19 team, seemed to be a very good signal for West Indies cricket.

“Great performance. I would think that all of the people who would have been watching and following West Indies cricket over the years would have been satisfied with the performances of the Under 19 Cricket team, the West Indies ladies and finally the West Indies senior male team.

“The victories augur well for West Indies cricket. I hope that the people will return to cricket because people had withdrawn because of the lack of performance,” he said.

Noting that T20 cricket usually called for slogging, Sir Everton, who struck a solitary six in his long career, said some of the runs scored by the West Indies batsmen yesterday were made in an orthodox style.

Lauding the quality of stroke-play displayed by Carlos Brathwaite, the cricketing legend said:

“It was not slogging, they were clean hits which carried the ball into the stands.”

Meanwhile the famous West Indies fast bowler of the 1960s and 70s, Sir Wes Hall was “over the moon” with the results.

“I am very happy that the West Indies have won three major trophies in the space of three or four months. It is something that we have been looking forward to for a very long time. We have won before but not like this. Our women cricketers are fantastic and I have been saying so for a long time. Our under 19 players have shown that they are competitive. We have been a force to be reckoned with, but to win says a lot,” he said.

The former fast bowler argued that when a country did well in any sporting discipline every young boy or girl wanted to emulate top performers and bring honour to their country and region.

“This has happened in Jamaica where every young boy or girl wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics because their sporting icons Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser did it,” Sir Wes said.

Commenting on the successes of the three regional teams, former middle order batsman Seymour Nurse said it felt as though he had won the lottery.

“I woke up this morning feeling like I had won a million dollars. I feel good because I am a West Indian and my navel string is buried in the Caribbean,” he told Barbados TODAY.

While lauding the Brathwaite’s contribution to the West Indies victory, Nurse also called for recognition and celebration of the role played by the man-of-the-match Marlon Samuels.

“The West indies is not one land mass like England, or Australia or India. We do not want to be insular by only congratulating Brathwaite. Cricket is a team game [therefore] any celebrations would have to be left up to the West Indies Cricket Board and the governments that make up CARICOM,” Nurse explained.

Former Barbados and West Indies opening batsman Cammie Smith also showered praise on the winning teams.

The former attacking opening batsman said: “Having the under 19 team winning and now having the women and the men winning is really an achievement. You cannot come better than coming first and winning. It is a magnificent effort.”

However, he warned against complacency and encouraged the players to work at improving their skills.

“So although the West Indies have won these competitions, they have to keep at it. However, there are so many other things that push youngsters off track that they may not continue playing sports,” Smith cautioned.

Meanwhile, former Barbados pace bowler Roddy Estwick, who is now the cricket coach at Combermere School and played a role in Brathwaite’s development, contended that his former student’s calm display in the dying moments of the game made a lie of former Hampshire cricket captain Mark Nicholas, who claimed that the West Indian cricketers were “short of brains”.

Estwick also called on the WICB to build on the successes of the teams.

“When we were a great cricketing region we tended to relax and allowed the cricket to flow. We now have to sit and put our heads together. We have to build on this momentum,” he advised.

First Published In The Barbados Today.

Cricinfo article.

WICB president Dave Cameron talks about what he has done to turn things around for West Indies cricket, and the difficulties of getting everyone on the same page.

Dave Cameron smiles when reminded he has been WICB president for three years. "Three years and two days," he says. We are sitting in the lobby of a hotel in South Mumbai a day before West Indies' World T20 semi-final against India. The smog is heavy on the Arabian sea across the road at nine in the morning. Cameron arrives on the dot at the agreed time, wearing a T-shirt with the WICB insignia on the right bust, and jeans. Stern-faced to begin with, he opens up gradually.

Cameron has been painted as an autocrat, strong-willed and not given to bending to the wishes of others. In person, he comes across as strong-minded, forceful, a persuasive talker.

He thinks he is misunderstood. But he has no time to deal with opinions. He says he is sick and tired of West Indies losing their long-held eminence. In this interview, he talks of how he came to be WICB president, why he has taken the decisions he has in order for West Indies cricket to move forwards, why the players should trust his vision for growth and development, and much else besides.

A big shot in the arm for you and the WICB that the BCCI has gone ahead with the India tour?

We are delighted. The next step now is to ensure we have a competitive series.

Did you expect this to happen?

We anticipated that the series would go on. We had it scheduled alongside the CPL, so we had made all the arrangements, including even the CPL draft, so that all the Test players would be available for the series.

Were any conditions put forth by the BCCI?

I don't necessarily want to go into the conditions. At the appropriate time we will announce exactly what the arrangements are.

On March 27, 2013 you became president. You won the elections for a second time on March 7 last year. You are 47. You must feel proud to be elected twice to an important and influential position at a young age?

One needs to go back and reflect on how I have gotten here. At no time did I aspire to be president.

I am actually the president of my club - Kensington Cricket Club - in Jamaica. Proud, proud president of that club. Going 16 years now. I was then asked to participate in the Jamaica Cricket Association, and I took up as a treasurer. Then I was asked to sit at the WICB, where I have been for the last 14 years. At the tender age of 32 I went to WICB. Through serving the game they asked me to lead the sport.

"My objective is to make West Indies cricket better. And that is why some of my decisions are a little unpopular, because it is about turning around our sport"

I want to bring a different mindset to the leadership of West Indies cricket, in that my objective is not to be the president but to make West Indies cricket better. And that is why some of my decisions are a little unpopular because it is about turning around our sport, something that means so much to the West Indies civilisation.

We have been very bad for a very long time. If you know history, it always shows that somebody needs to take a firm grip, make some very dramatic changes and then we will start to see the changes from there.

Unfortunately we have been putting band-aids on the issues over the years without really addressing them and restructuring the game. We have done that. That is my proudest moment.

It has caused the issues in India [the team pulling out of the tour in 2014]. Very unfortunate, and we continue to be disappointed about the way that turned out, but again, the programme was all rolled out and agreed prior to [the India tour]. What we didn't do, the step that we did not have covered, was to sit with our players and be able to explain exactly how it would been done.

So we would have dispatched a team to come to India to sit with them, and that was scheduled for, I think, two days before the actual falling out of the events.

That is the unfortunate bit. We are 16 islands, so it is not very easy to have everybody in one place for discussions, so we felt it was better to come on this side [India], where we would have had all the senior players and met them between the end of the ODI series and the beginning of the Tests. All the players could have gone through the new system, and so hopefully that would have been prevented.

Be that as it may, we are here now, our new franchise system has been in place for the last two years. The first season, we did not really have a chance to prepare players. This year is our first proper season and we are starting to see a lot of young players coming through. Of course some of them are 27, 28, but they are mature enough to push for places in the Test team. I am happy that we have been able to do that. A little sad that it has taken the route it took.

What have been your biggest achievements in the job so far?

Our entire domestic cricket is professional. In 2013 the CPL was introduced under my tenure. Our players moved from being paid US$5000 for the tournament to being paid $150,000, since, for the first time, we introduced contracts. Then we introduced the Professional Cricket League (PCL). We are playing more [domestic] cricket. For the first time we have started to create a cricket industry where youngsters can actually look on and say, I can be part of that. I don't have to be in the elite 15, as it used to be, to be able to earn a living and to be competitive in the sport. And, of course, I can't leave out winning the Under-19 World Cup. It was very, very special to us.

What did the WICB contribute to that U-19 win?

We contributed everything. Because we have not been having issues with our players' association for the first time in the last two years, we have been able to concentrate on cricket.

Prior to 2013, when we took over, we were paying an average of over a million and a half dollars a year in legal fees. All we were doing was battling with our players' association, arbitration, mediation.

So we spent a lot of time just dealing with legal issues, and not focusing on the development of the sport. When we took over with the agreement we signed with WIPA, we were now able to focus on development and what our players needed to get better. For the first time the U-19 players played in our Super50 last year. We had a number of camps in between.

We also had a high-performance team deployed to assist the U-19 squad. We also changed the format of U-19 cricket last year, to play more 50-over matches over three-day games.

We realised when our players got to U-19 tournaments, a lot of times they had only played four or five 50-over matches. So they lacked experience. Because of the professional set-up, players benefited from being a part of that. No longer do we have a semi-professional or amateur sport, we now have teams practising all year.

Take the case of [Shimron] Hetmyer, who has been a part of the Guyana franchise system for the last two years. Keemo Paul and [Tevin] Imlach got scholarships from the Guyana Jaguars as well. Alzarri Joseph has been playing in the Leeward Islands set-up from last year. These were the standout guys in the U-19 World Cup. Hetmyer came back and scored a century in the PCL. We are very, very proud of what we have achieved with those U-19s. We now have a blueprint and we will be improving on that in the next tournaments. Get nervous.

You are not a popular man in the Caribbean. Virtually everyone seems to disagree with you. Why is that?

(Smiles) My approach may be a little bit different from what is customary. It has been said that I am little forthright. My objective is that everyone understands me once they get to sit down and talk to me. I am very straightforward. It is probably a Jamaican thing: we will tell you exactly how we feel. It is not personal. It is just that I would like to win.

We have a very, very strong sense of winning, of doing well. We have just been doing bad for a very, very long time. I just don't have ten years to take my time to turn around what is a very big ship. So changing the way we do things, have discussions about being more professional about the way we go sometimes rubs people the wrong way. And if I do, then I apologise, but the truth is, I just want to get better. I am tired of losing.

We have had a win-loss record that is not something to smile about. The only way we are going to be able to turn that around is, we have to be more professional, force our players and the management and the board of directors to step up and be better at what we do.

Players are the most important asset for any board. How would you describe your relationship with them?

My relationship with the players is fine, as between any president and his players. Obviously I would have liked it to be a little bit different at this point in time. But again, coming out of what happened in India and the views expressed by some that they had lost money with the restructuring - again I need to explain for you because it has not been told in full…

You are talking about the memorandum of understanding the players were meant to sign?

In 2013, round about March, we had an MoU with the WIPA that had been in place since 2004 or 2005. And the board kept wanting to renegotiate it. We took the matter to the court and the court ruled in our favour that the MoU was now null and void. It meant that when I took over in March 2013, I could have changed the entire payment structure there and then.

I sat down with WIPA president Wavell Hinds and told him, we need to restructure everything. Allow me to review the entire system and show how we are going to make it better. When our director of cricket [Richard Pybus] came in, we sat down, we devised the system and I presented it to the WIPA, who then presented it to the players. That is how the system changed.

"We were paying an average of over a million and a half dollars a year in legal fees. All we were doing was battling with our players' association, arbitration, mediation"

So without an MoU, without a contract, we continued paying players at the same rate between March 2013 and September 2014, when the new contracts came in. A lot has been said about how players left our shores without contracts etc, but they were playing under no contracts before. The WICB honoured all of the commitments.

That is very significant and one needs to understand that we said in good faith that we would honour the commitments and that we wanted to make the system better.

In the past you have said trust is something that is missing between WICB and the players. 

There is trust between myself and the WIPA, because everything I have said to the players' association, that I am going to deliver, I have delivered. So if you speak to Mr Hinds or if you speak to the executive of the WIPA, there is a lot of trust.

And it is emotions. In ten years' time, when they have all "grown up" and they have seen what we have done in this era, they will recgonise what had to be done in order to move West Indies cricket forward.

While there is that feeling now of ill will towards myself, the board, the management, we will get through it. My objective right now is to find ways to ensure that our former players see their value in West Indies cricket. That is my next goal to work on. I want to be able to demonstrate to them that you still have value, having played for West Indies for years.

So you want to integrate them?

Absolutely. If you have seen we have integrated a lot of the former players into what they are doing now. Most of them are coaches, mentors at various levels.

You say that you will only deal with the WIPA. But the players say they don't subscribe to the WIPA. How then does one reach out to the other?

And that is fine. I am aware of that. That'll take time.

How do you bridge that gap? The players don't want to trust the middle man [Hinds]?

And they don't have to trust the top man either.

One of the things we did in the last two years is have player retreats. The first one was in Miami and last year it was in Barbados. That was my way to say to them, we are serving you and cricket. That was my way of saying to them, let me explain to you what we are trying to do. We had the coaches, the territorial boards, the franchises, the CEOs, selectors, team management and the players.

Were all the players there?

Not all of them were there since it was in May and a few were playing the IPL. The Test players were there and few from this World T20 squad were there.

One of the recommendations of the task force we had set up was to have a mediation done with the players, and we did that. We had Ian Smith from FICA [Federation of International Cricketers' Associations], Ian Higgins from the ICC, and another gentleman from Jamaica. We sat with WIPA and the WICB and we went through the new MoU and we made some changes.

We did a comprehensive document that speaks about all the payments for the next four years. At that same meeting that document was presented to all the players present.

That is why Wavell again says he does not understand why just before this WT20, players are now saying they did not know what they are getting paid. All of those payments, a schedule was done, and it was sent to all players, not just the retained ones, as to what their financial payments for the next four years would be. Some of the players were not there, but that is no excuse. Last year they were all on retainers, so they would have all received it.

Darren Sammy told us recently that the match fee offered for playing in the World T20 was not enough. "We are being offered now just $6900 per match across the board, irrespective of experience. Players are being asked to start providing services from nearly four weeks ahead of the World Cup and be guaranteed just $27,600 if they play all the guaranteed matches, which is a staggering reduction," Sammy said. How do you respond?

Even if I give them a million dollars they will still say it is not fair. One has to be reasonable. We have always respected WIPA as the players' representative. We negotiate only with WIPA, so whatever the terms are with WIPA, we recognise them.

However, we recognise that our players are important and again in trying to build trust and try and move forward, the CEO [Michael Muirhead] had some discussions between WIPA and Darren Sammy [before the World T20]. But all of those payments were disclosed from last year. They all had those payments in front of them.

You are only a player when you are selected. Darren Sammy last year would not have been playing T20 cricket, and he was not selected yet as a captain, and therefore he may not have looked at the rates. Now that the team is selected and he has had a look at the rates, he says, I don't agree with it. The issue is, we have to stop looking at it in isolation.

He says he does not get any great remuneration from the WICB. Who created the CPL? He is making $160,000 from the CPL this year, so can you say that you are not making a lot of money from the WICB? And how can you then decide that you want to go and play every league around the world, play two T20 matches for the WICB, but still be retained? Come on, it does not make sense.

There needs to be an equitable distribution.

Equitable is not necessarily the word. We need to compromise. We need to have a discussion. That is what I have been saying to them: "Let us sit down and let me explain to you where we are at." We have given up the two best months of our year for cricket - April and May. We are not playing any cricket because we have allowed them to come over to India and play in the IPL. Some of them are making $500,000, a million, a million and a half. Great. We have sacrificed those two months for you. We only have 52 weeks in a year. If you want to play Big Bash, Ram Slam and all those T20 tournaments, then we also need you to bring back the information and the experience to our players back home. And also our sponsors, who are sponsoring our tournaments, want to have our stars back home. You can't want to play everywhere, the WICB has to call on your services either domestic or international, but then you want the WICB to pay you a nice, big retainer.

Sammy reckons T20 is the format West Indies are best at and he and other T20I players merit a contract. Do you agree?

All right, so let us have a chat about how many T20I matches are being played in a year. Why would I retain you to play three, four matches a year? What are you doing for the WICB outside of playing two, three T20Is a year? That is why I am saying, if you are willing to come back and give back to our four-day system…

Let us say you don't want to play Test matches anymore, but we need your services, we need your expertise to get the next set of players. We have to have some kind of consciousness about that.

Unfortunately, the truth is, I have reached out to the players. I have reached out to them individually. I have reached them through Jason [Holder]. I have said, let us sit down and talk about West Indies cricket and how we want to move it forward.

They haven't been forthcoming. It is interesting that Darren Sammy has these views, and rightly so since it affects him personally, but we are running the sport. We can't focus on any one player.

And that is part of the mistakes we have been making for a very, very long time. We have to focus on the sport. We have to give people opportunities. We have to make it tough and competitive for everybody to be part of the sport. We believe what we are doing is providing opportunities. If you want to play here, we are happy to have you and we are going to compensate you as best as possible, and we are going to make it as competitive as possible.

First Published On Cricinfo.

Barbados Today article.

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur today called for a “moratorium on controversy” in West Indies cricket, while stating that he was not only bowled over by recent comments made by the President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Dave Cameron and the region’s T20 skipper Darren Sammy, but also by the persistent demands by some of his former prime ministerial colleagues for the disbandment of the WICB.

“People are not focusing on cricket

per se and that is what the focus needs to be. They have to find a way to work together now in good faith,” said Arthur, while hailing Sunday’s World T20 cricket victory by both the Windies men’s and women’s teams as a “wonderful achievement” and a positive indication that “West Indies cricket is not dead”.

However, he said “like all Caribbean people, I was soaring on the realms of pride, [before] the moment was sullied when both the team leadership and the West Indies Cricket Board foisted upon the international community’s attention and imagination the extent of the conflicts among themselves, and I think that was tarnished a bit by that conflict”.

The bitter divisions in Caribbean cricket were laid bare Sunday as the WICB publicly reprimanded its St Lucian-born captain Sammy just hours after his team’s stunning victory in the World T20 final over England.

It should have been a day of complete joy for the West Indies, with the women’s team winning their Twenty20 final against Australia on the same Eden Gardens ground where the men later downed England by four wickets in a last-over thriller.

But in a post-match interview, Sammy gave vent to months — possibly years — of frustration with the WICB, alluding not only to problems with sourcing gear for their T20 bid, but the fact that words of support had come from several quarters – including CARICOM leaders – but not their own board.

To make matters worse, Cameron immediately shot back at what he deemed inappropriate comments made by the West Indies’ men’s captain.

In a show of disgust over the skipper’s remarks, the WICB president also tweeted: “When is the last time a critic paid one of your bills? Always remember that when you start to give them your energy.”

However, Arthur believes both sides are at fault.

“I thought that Cameron’s response, even if provoked, was also inappropriate,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“He [Cameron] has to understand that in leadership sometimes that you suffer in silence and then try to work out the matter behind the scenes,” he suggested, ahead of a visit to Jamaica on Friday, during which he is hoping to meet with the WICB head.

Arthur, who is an avid cricket supporter and a strong proponent of regionalism, also suggested that Sammy should have allowed the region to savour its moment of triumph last Sunday, and candidly state his objections to the board at a later date.

“It is not to say that the players may not have a cause, [but] if the West Indies Cricket Board didn’t live up to the responsibility of providing supplies, then that is a serious issue, but I didn’t need to know all of that when the players and the whole region were at the point of rejoicing.

“You have your report on the tour. Give that report with candour and if it has to come out, let it come out. But I thought it would have been better had he complimented the extraordinary exploits of young [Carlos] Brathwaite because a lot of Caribbean people had given up when we had to score those runs in the last over.”

Ahead of a planned address to the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) on Thursday night, Arthur called for greater focus on the creation of a development programme, below the level of the WICB, to make West Indies cricket viable.

In this regard, he said there was scope for “common ground” between the WICB and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments.

However, the former Prime Minister, who has been invited to chair a group for the creation of a trust fund for the development of the regional game, warned that such a programme could not be had in an environment where West Indies cricket continued to be affected, more than any other country’s cricket, by divisiveness, including between the WICB and regional prime ministers.

Asked whether he agreed with the recent recommendation made by the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee that the WICB should be disbanded, Arthur responded: “The leaders have to let cricketing decisions be made by those responsible for cricketing decisions.”

However, within the context of the game’s development, he said there needed to be some level of support by governments.

“There is that sense in which there still needs to be a relationship between the West Indies Cricket Board and governments because you can’t have a nursery for West Indies cricket unless you have development programmes at the level of the countries.”

Using Barbados as an example, he said it was not by chance that the island was currently providing most of the West Indian cricketers for both the Test and One Day teams, given that it has a development programme in place, for which he said there was access to sustained funding provided by his former Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration.

However, he made it clear that “Prime Ministers should not be involved in saying who should be selected or whatever else and I am not sure that there is a legal basis from which the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee can tell the West Indies Cricket Board that it needs to be disbanded. It is a recommendation, but I don’t know it can go beyond that,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“They can call for it to change, but there is no way that they can legally require it to be done,” he emphasized, pointing out that the WICB was its own legal entity and could not be disbanded by the “fiat of regional prime ministers, it really can’t”.

“The decision on whether Cameron stays or goes was not theirs to make,” he said.

“The board was constituted by way of elections. We in the Caribbean are accustomed to regime changes by way of elections. I am familiar with it. I don’t know there is need now for us to superimpose a process that is not known on this situation.

“If Cameron is a disaster, he will be changed, but he shall not be changed by the fiat of Prime Ministers,” Arthur stressed.

First Published In The Barbados Today.

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - All-rounder Shamar "Chest Roll" Springer and fast bowler Chemar Holder, both of whom produced telling performances for the champion West Indies Under-19 team at the ICC World Youth 50-over Tournament in Bangladesh in February, showed their class on the opening day of the second Barbados Under-19 three-day trial at Weymouth today.

Springer hit a fine century and along with Jermaine Davis, who emerged from a disastrous run of form to record a half-century, pulled Springer's side around from dire straits on 31 for five to 218 all out off 63.4 overs in their first innings against Leniko Boucher's X1.

St. Leonard's student Holder, who took two of the early wickets, finished with four for 29 off 14 overs.

Springer, a Combermerian and Davis of Foundation, added 161 in 36.1 overs for the sixth wicket.

After winning the toss and going to the crease at No. 6, Springer scored 113 in 175 minutes off 133 balls with ten fours and one six before falling to in-form left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop.

It was the start of another collapse as the last five wickets crashed for 26 runs.

Davis, who failed to score in the first and third one-day trial matches and had another "duck" and six in the first three-day match, made 74 with great relief. He was at the crease for 174 minutes, received 127 deliveries and struck six fours and two sixes.

Apart from Holder's four-wicket haul, his new ball partner Jadeja Edwards picked up two for three off six overs and Bishop, two for 52 off 17 overs.

Boucher's X1 closed on 77 for three off 22 overs.

All-rounder Nicholas Kirton has so far topscored with 27.

Foundation left-arm fast bowling all-rounder Dominic Drakes, the son of former Barbados and West Indies pace bowling all-rounder Vasbert Drakes, who was the head coach of the champion West Indies Women's team at the just concluded World Tweny20 Tournament in India, has two for 15 off five overs.

SCORECARD

SHAMAR SPRINGER'S X1 1st innings

Mario Hinds c Moore b Holder                    1   (9 mins, 22 balls)

Demario Richards c Holder b Edwards        0   (3 mins, 11 balls)

Limar Pierce lbw b Holder                         3   (1 min, 13 balls)

Dominic Hart b Edwards                           0   (1 min, 4 balls)

K. Herbert c Hurley b Blades                     3   (33 mins, 24 balls)

*Shamar Springer c Moore b Bishop       113   (175 mins, 133 balls, 10x4, 1x6)

Jermaine Davis c Boucher b Holder           74   (174 mins, 127 balls, 6x4, 2x6)

Dominic Drakes b Holder                           2   (13 mins, 11 balls)

Dane Currency c Holder b Bishop               1   (12 mins, 11 balls)

Shavon Brooks b Kirton                             2   (19 mins, 16 balls)

Shkym Haynes not out                             11 (14 mins, 13 balls)

Extras (b3, lb2, nb3)                                  8

TOTAL (all out, 63.4 overs)                      218

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Richards 3.5 ov), 2-3 (Pierce, 6.3), 3-4 (Hart, 7.3), 4-4 (Hinds, 8.5), 5-31 (Herbert, 16), 6-192 (Springer, 52.1), 7-197 (Drakes, 55.5), 8-204 (Currency, 58.3), 9-206(Davis, 59.3), 10-218 (Brooks, 63.4).

Bowling: Holder 14-6-29-4 (nb4), Edwards 6-4-3-2, Boucher 2-0-10-0, Hurley 1-0-16-0, Blades 5-1-23-1 (nb2), Bishop 17-4-52-2, Cave 7-0-43-0, Niles 4-0-19-0, Kirton 7.4-0-18-1.

LENIKO BOUCHER'S X1 1st innings

Shian Brathwaite c Burrowes b Drakes        10   (26 mins, 17 balls, 2x4)

Shakib Kellman c Callender b Drakes          16   (34 mins, 21 balls, 2x4)

Nico Reifer not out                                    13   (63 mins, 51 balls, 1x4)

Nicholas Kirton lbw b Callender                  27   (34 mins, 32 balls, 3x4)      

*Leniko Boucher not out                             8   (20 mins, 14 balls, 1x4)

Extras (nb3)                                               3

TOTAL (3 wks, 22 overs)                           77

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Brat hwaite, 5 ov), 2-29 (Kellman, 6.2), 3-64 (Kirton, 15.3).

Bowling: Drakes 5-1-15-2 (nb3), Smith 2-0-12-0, Haynes 3-1-10-0, Currency 5-1-20-0, Callender 5-2-12-1, Brooks 1-0-5-0, Burrowes 1-0-3-0.

Toss: Springer's X1.

Umpires: Antonio Mayers, Dave Thompson.

Scorers: Amelia Crick, Jacqueline Crick.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - Two JJs scored half-centuries in a Barbados Under-17 one-day trial match at the Harrison College 'A' ground, Crumpton Street on Wednesday with gaining as much practice as possible the ultimate objective.

Jonlhi Jordan of Harrison College made 64 not out and Graydon Sealy's Jadan Jones scored 50 in a total of 205 for five off 50 overs by Jarad Lovell's X1 against Rivaldo Clarke's X1, who won the toss.

Jordan faced 89 balls and struck seven fours, while Jones received 58 deliveries, hitting one four and one six.

The pair added 109 in 20.4 overs for the fifth wicket.

Foundation opener Joshua Corbin contributed 33 off 61 balls with three boundaries.

Clarke's side were bowled out in 38 overs, still 51 runs short of their target. But they batted on and eventually reached 207 off the very last ball of the 50th over with 12 wickets down.

Marco St. Hill of The Lodge made 33 off 54 balls with one boundary and Lester Vaughan's Micah Thornhill got 32 from 39 deliveries including three fours.

SCORECARD

JARAD LOVELL'S X1

Joshua Corbin c wk Waterman b Thornhill     33   (61 balls, 3x4)

Kadeem Alleyne c wk Waterman b Boyce        6   (23 balls)

Azan Holligan c Clarke b Thornhill                  8   (45 balls, 1x4)

+Kilano Brathwaite c Clarke b Boyce              6   (11 balls, 1x4)

Jadan Jones c & b Best                                50   (58 balls, 1x4, 1x6)

Jonlhi Jordan not out                                   64   (89 balls, 7x4)

Jayden Edmund not out                               19   (14 balls, 2x4)

Extras (lb1, w18)                                        19

TOTAL (5 wks, 50 overs)                             205

Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Alleyne, 9.1 ov), 2-55 (Corbin, 20), 3-62 (Brathwaite, 23), 4-62 (Holligan, 23.2), 5-171 (Jones, 44).

Did not bat: Nico Blackman, Shaquon Collymore, Jiovanni Forde-Watson, Rikeem Headley, *Jarad Lovell, Jamali Lynch, Shemar Persaud, Tyreke Small, Cherran Thompson.

Bowling: Young 6-0-13-0 (w4), Boyce 6-0-25-1 (w5), Marshall 6-2-13-0, Thornhill 6-2-17-2, Boyce 6-2-20-1, Bailey 4-0-34-0 (w4), Clarke 6-0-34-0 (w4), Best 5-0-15-1, Walrond 3-0-11-0 (w1), Hoyte 2-0-22-0 (w4).

ZIDANE CLARKE'S X1

Akil Alleyne st Brathwaite b Headley             18   (35 balls, 3x4)

Dashawn Toppin c Brathwaite b Thompson      4   (11 balls, 1x4)

Naje Bishop run out (Lovell)                         25   (43 balls, 2x4)

+Ajani Waterman b Persaud                           1   (4 balls)

*Zidane Clarke c Corbin b Persaud                  1   (4 balls)

Shakkae Marshall st Blackman b Headley         8   (9 balls, 1x4)

Marco St. Hill st Holligan b Small                   33   (54 balls, 1x4)

Nyeem Young c Blackman b Forde-Watson        0   (15 balls)

Davion Hoyte c Lovell b Forde-Watson              3   (9 balls)

Micah Thornhill c Headley b Lovell                  32   (39 balls, 3x4)

Josiah Bailey c Jones b Collymore                   18  (22 balls, 2x4, 1x6)

Camarie Boyce not out                                  18  (37 balls, 1x4)

Kristian Best b Thompson                                7  (20 balls, 1x4)

Shakeem Boyce not out                                  4   (1 ball, 1x4)

Extras (w32, nb3)                                         35

TOTAL (all out, 12 wks, 50 overs)                 207

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Toppin, 2.4 ov), 2-59 (Alleyne, 13), 3-70 (Bishop, 14.5), 4-71 (Clarke, 15.3), 5-72 (Waterman, 16), 6-84 (Marshall, 18.4), 7-90 (Young, 23), 8-105 (Hoyte, 27), 9-144 (St. Hill, 34.4), 10-155 (Thornhill, 38), 11-185 (Bailey, 43.4), 12-203 (Best, 49.5)

Did not bat: Zario Walrond, Robert Burrowes.

Bowling: Thompson 5-0-34-2 (w7, nb2), Edmund 6-0-21-0 (w13), Lynch 5-0-22-0 (w3), Collymore 6-0-31-1 (w2), Headley 6-0-20-2 (w4), Persaud 6-0-14-2 (w1), Forde-Watson 5-0-18-2 (nb1), Small 6-0-23-1, Lovell 4-0-21-1 (w2), Corbin 1-0-3-0.

Umpires: Lester Millington, Sylvan Leacock.

Scorer: Suzanne Belle.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

Cricinfo article.

In the second part of a two-part interview, West Indies board president Dave Cameron talks about the CPL money the players receive, and why he keeps his distance from them.

In part one of the interview Cameron talks about why he might be misunderstood, the WICB's contribution to the U-19 World Cup win, and the difficulties of getting everyone on the same page.

We have asked players whether they have spoken directly to or met Dave Cameron.

And what do they say?

No one has.

But I am available. I have told them directly. I have told them through the manager that I am available. They are next door in the Trident [hotel in Mumbai].

Have you gone out of your way to reach out?

I have gone out of my way on more than one occasion. In South Africa I went to dinner with them.

Is it true that more than half the players did not turn up there?

Not as much as half. A few of the players did not turn up. It was shortly after October 2014 [when the team pulled out of their tour of India]. It is a lot of emotions, and emotions wrongly placed because a lot of players sat down and analysed what West Indies has done. Those "India 15" players have benefited tremendously since 2013, with the CPL coming in. You should ask them about that - how much more money they are making from when West Indies used to run the Caribbean T20 to what they are making now. The CPL is WICB's product.

Again, WICB has received the flak for selling the CPL to a foreign entity. But who has benefited? Our players. We did that so that our players could move from earning US$5000 per season to $150,000-160,000 at the top end. All of those 15 players are earning at that level. Have they lost $150,000-160,000 due to the new restructuring? No, they have not. I can categorically show you that these players are making a lot more money solely from the WICB.

Let us go to October 2014. It was one of the saddest chapters in West Indies cricket. Reacting to the pull-out last January, you said: "I don't believe they are even aware about what they have done." Why did you say that?

Because we are two years behind where we could have been now had we not had that situation in India. We have struggled for the last two years with our finances, etc. And look at what we have been able to achieve with winning Under-19 [World Cup] and being here in the semi-finals of both men and women's World T20. My whole objective is about the players and how we can use our players, once we are on the same side, to generate more revenues for WICB and for them.

The underpinning thing about the MoU with the players is that they get 25% of our commercial revenues over a four-year period. And that is very, very critical. So they have fixed payments - match fees, retainer - but on a four-year rolling cycle the WICB would review how much of the commercial revenues are there, based on how much players have received.

Then they will all get bonuses once the numbers exceed. If numbers don't exceed, we are not taking back their money. It is a genuine partnership.

So once we make more money, the players stand to benefit. The upside is for the senior players, not for regional players. Our percentage payments to our first-class and international players are in line with all the major Full Member countries, like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

"Winning the World T20 or being here in the World T20 is because of [what] the WICB has done. The players here, where did they come from?"

According to you, who pulled out of the India tour - the WICB or the players?

We have been having a lot of discussions about that. The fact of the matter is, the tour was called off. I don't necessarily want to go into that.

The press releases sent by the BCCI stated the WICB had abandoned the tour.

If the WICB pull out, what is the difference? If the players walked out, what is the difference at this point? The happy thing is, that is behind us and the future is ahead of us. Again, we have not been credited enough for how we took it on the chin, because all those players were sent to South Africa right after that India tour.

Except for Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard.

The president has no veto in selections, as is the case in some countries. The West Indies selection process is totally independent of the board. The only job we have is telling who becomes captain.

You were derided for not flying down to meet the players in India at the time. You said that past WICB presidents, Pat Rousseau and Wes Hall, had reached out to players in times of strife, but what purpose did that serve? 

I absolutely don't believe that that would have changed anything, because immediately after I found out that there was an issue, I offered to Skype all the players and speak to them. One day you will get the full story about that.

And that is not an arrogant view, as people might conclude?

No, not an arrogant view at all. My response to Sir Wes, when he asked me that question, was: "Sir Wes, we have had strikes or potential strikes for the last 14 years. And we have all gone and met the players and given in. And we are ranked eight or nine [on ICC rankings]. I am not sure going and meeting them would have solved it."

As a matter of fact, for the first time my board said to me, "President, you are not authorised to do anything to this agreement because you paid the guys money for the last year and a half when you had the opportunity to change the agreement. You have demonstrated good faith. You have worked with the WIPA to get the MoU done. For the last how many years, every time we are trying to move the process forward, so that we can create a professional set-up, we get held to ransom. We are just tired as an organisation."

Wes Hall had strikes against him. Sir Julian [Hunte] had a couple of issues. It started under Pat Rousseau. It happened to Teddy Griffith. Everybody went and gave them [the players] what they wanted. Did our system get any better? It got worse. We have moved from No. 1 in the world in 1995 to eight and nine in Tests and ODIs.

What is happening to the previous BCCI administration's claim of $42 million in damages for the aborted tour?

We will do a joint media release for you as soon as both boards are ready.

Moving back to the first-class structure, right through your tenure you have said the lack of professional structure set West Indies cricket back by 20 years. How much have things improved since the CPL, PCL and Super50 have started?

It is tremendous. We are not where we need to be at. I don't believe the administration we need around the players is at the level we want to be at. The coaching is something we are working on seriously. We need to upscale our coaches.

The big advantage is just that we now have players who can actually see themselves as cricketers without having to go elsewhere and try and find a job in far-off places like the UK. For the first time we have a bunch of umpires who are on retainers.

We have 11 women players who are on retainers and that is why our women's cricket is growing strong. The positive coming out is that cricket is now a career. Track and field and basketball have been the sports that have taken away all our athletes. Now parents can look at cricket and say: if my son gets into the lowest rung of the regional cricket structure, he can make $30,000 as a starting salary, which is more than what a lawyer makes coming out of a university in the Caribbean. Once you start attracting talent, you are forcing people to get better.

Around 1998, when England changed their county set-up, where only two overseas players were allowed in per county, we got hurt the worst. As our players got exceedingly worse, we lost all of those contracts. England was our finishing school. That is where players really went and learned professionalism.

Take the example of England batsman James Taylor, who scored a hundred in the last Ashes [he made a hundred in the ODIs that followed]. He is only 25 years old. He has somewhere in the region of 65 [131] first-class matches. At 25, in the Caribbean, prior to last year, you would have had played a maximum of 25 first-class games. It is very difficult for anybody to get good playing 25 games by time you are 25.

"My response to Sir Wes, was: 'We have had strikes or potential strikes for the last 14 years. And we have all gone and met the players and given in. I am not sure going and meeting them would have solved it"

With the PCL you will have the opportunity to play at least 50 first-class matches. Then there are home and away A team matches. So in a year a good second-tier player should play at least 15 first-class, ten List A matches, which helps you identify who are going to be your best players.

What has happened to the $360,000 that the CPL said would go to cricket development? Reportedly, it has been diverted to paying the salaries of the domestic cricketers. Is that correct?

That money has gone into the professional set-up. It is not ring-fenced that this money must do that. We give every franchise $45,000 every month; $27,500 of that amount is earmarked for the payment of the players and the balance is for the administration, which includes the coaches, support staff, administrators. That $27,500 is part of the 25% being paid to the players.

Have you met the players here in India during the World T20?

I haven't met all of them. I have seen them.

They are staying next door?

They are staying next door [in a hotel in Mumbai]. I haven't been around them too much. And that is very, very deliberate. I am staying next door and not in the same hotel because sometimes players get a little nervous when the management is around them. They probably feel a little defensive. I don't want to feel like I am spying on them.

No, man, the relationship is good. It is where it needs to be. I'm the president of the organisation. They are the stars and they know that the WICB is supporting them in winning these tournaments. We are happy with that.

What if a player thinks, "Oh, he is here. Not even meeting us. We are in the World T20 semi-finals." Or he might think, "My boss is here. We have come this far in the tournament. Do I get a pat on my back, will he come and talk to me in person?"

I am tweeting and supporting them. They are aware. I have reached out and I have told the manager that I am here if anybody wants to speak to me. A lot of them are very busy - their schedule, practice.

What is your relationship with Phil Simmons, West Indies coach, since his suspension? 

We have met. We have spoken. We are professionals. Phil is the coach and I am the president. One other thing I try not to do is get too involved in processes. I have a CEO. I know people think I am the guy directing the ship, but I am really at 100,000 feet [above]. The CEO is running the organisation. There is a director of cricket who Phil directly reports to. My relationship with Phil is on a professional basis.

What if the players say: we won despite the WICB. How would you take it?

"Despite"! Well, I don't know you get "despite".

Only because they are saying 14 of us 15 are not part of WIPA. We are not talking to WICB.

So who is the team representing here? (Laughs). It can't be "despite of". It is really about having those discussions and both parties wanting to sit down. You asked me about going to meet players and trying to talk to them. If they don't want to speak to me, it is a waste of an attempt. So both parties have to say: this is where we are at, let me hear what you have to say, let me give you my views, and then we can think of going forward. Winning the World T20 or being here in the World T20 is because of what the WICB has done. The players here, where did they come from?

This relationship between the two parties, which is very important, is not there.

I don't necessarily agree with you. When you get a chance, speak to the players of 20 years ago. Most of them did not even know who the president of the WICB was. And we were No. 1 in the world. So I think you are making this relationship more than it needs to be.

My role is to run the business and your role is to play cricket to the best of your ability. I am providing you with the best compensation that we can afford, that will allow the product to develop and for us to be able to produce the next [set of] players.

What is the question these players are asking you? 

That is a good question. When you find out, you let me know. Every match you win, there is a cheque, and the players are getting 100% of that. Some of these players are also on retainers. They keep forgetting. They are playing T20 but they are still on a retainer. The retainer is anywhere between $100,000-150,000 [per year].

I don't want to dwell on money. Money is never enough. West Indies cricket is so critical to us as a nation, as a region that sells tourism, that sells the warmth of our people, the warmth of our islands. That is what we need to be able to communicate to our players.

Respect and trust are very important, as you point out. Would you admit that the way Shivnarine Chanderpaul retired and the way it was handled was not appropriate?

It has been called interference by myself because I felt he should not have been dealt with that way. But the selection process is very independent. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and I have a very good relationship.

It may be a West Indian thing - that our players seem to not take it upon themselves to communicate to us in a timely manner when they are going to or would like to go.

On the other side as well, our selectors, our people who are around the set-up, don't communicate and don't give us enough warning about when they believe players are at that point in time.

"We are two years behind where we could have been now had we not had that situation in India"

When I took office in 2013, I asked the selectors to tell us when our senior players are at that point so that we can honour them and treat them with the respect they deserve. Myself and the vice-president were vocal about how Chanderpaul was treated. Chanderpaul has signalled he has retired. We have our awards later on this year [during the tri-series in June] where we will certainly award the Under-19s. Maybe an opportunity to honour Chanderpaul as well.

Another example is Chris Gayle. He is the biggest name for West Indies. What is your plan for him?

Chris Gayle and I actually grew up together. We have played together, played against each other. He is at Lucas. My club, Kensington, is literally next door. We have a very cordial relationship.

Chris is at a point in time where it is very important how the selectors handle him. I have had those discussions with the selectors. It is not something I want to get involved in.

It is important that I stay at a certain level. I would love for Chris to play for as long as possible, but it is based upon his willingness and fitness. I am aware that he is still struggling with some fitness issues. Test cricket is quite rigorous, so I am not sure how long he will play. But it is good to know that he has signalled he would like to play for a few more years.

Once he is fit, once the selectors believe he can contribute positively to the team, [then it is up to them].

Then there is this hostile relationship you share with the media. You have locked horns with eminent names like Michael Holding. Why is he not commentating in the Caribbean?

I want to leave alone that one.

Do you think you are the Sepp Blatter of West Indies cricket?

No, I am the opposite of Sepp, because everybody loved Sepp. When Sepp came to our country, he was worshipped.

Our governance systems in the West Indies have been the best they have ever been. We have four independent directors and I have used them to chair some of the important committees.

We have an audit, risk and compliance committee, chaired by an independent director. We had a surplus of $3.5 million last year - first time we had such a surplus outside of 2007.

All our financial statements are on our website. Two-thousand eighteen is going to be a very difficult year for us because we don't have inbound tours. We only make [money] when we have inbound tours. The only inbound tours that make money are England and India, and to a lesser extent, Australia.

What is your challenge in the remaining time you have as WICB president?

We are at a point now where West Indies cricket has never been in a better place. Financially, we can see our way forward. We have put in a professional structure. We will continue to fiddle with that. Do we increase the matches as our resources get better?

Do we pay the players more money, and that kind of stuff? But we are in a place now where we have set the platform and the sky is the limit, and we are on our way up.

One of the next steps is, we are creating a commercial entity called Cricket West Indies. Cricket West Indies will be the corporate name for the organisation and the entity in which we will be looking at the performance of our teams will be a separate one.

That way we feel we can somehow isolate some of the issues which will always be so, so political [away] from the performance and far from commercialisation of the team. That is happening soon.

First Published On Cricinfo.

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - Nico Reifer stole the spotlight with a knock of 91 on the second day of the second Barbados Under-19 three-day trial at Weymouth.

From an overnight 13 with the score 77 for three off 22 overs, Reifer batted the longest in the match so far as Leniko Boucher's XI were bowled out for 317 in 114 overs to gain a first innings lead of 99 over Shamar Springer's X1.

Reifer, a product of Queen's College and who now studies in England, was at the crease for 315 minutes, faced 291 balls and struck six fours.

A member of the well-known Reifer cricketing family, he shared in two half-century partnerships of 63 with Danyl Husbands (31) for the fifth wicket and 62 for the seventh wicket with Sylvester Moore (35).

There were also useful knocks of 29 from Jadeja Edwards and all-rounder Joshua Bishop (26).

Left-arm fast bowler Dominic Drakes was the leading wicket-taker with three for 43 off 18 overs.

SCORECARD

SHAMAR SPRINGER'S X1 1st innings 

Mario Hinds c Moore b Holder                        1    (9 mins, 22 balls)

Demario Richards c Holder b Edwards            0    (8 mins, 11 balls)

Limar Pierce lbw b Holder                             3    (10 mins, 13 balls)

Dominic Hart b Edwards                               0    (1 min, 4 balls)

Khalil Herbert c Hurley b Blades                    3    (33 mins, 24 balls)

*Shamar Springer c Moore b Bishop           113   (175 mins, 133 balls, 10x4, 1x6)

Jermain Davis c Boucher b Holder                74   (174 mins, 127 balls, 6x4, 2x6)

Dominic Drakes b Holder                              2    (13 mins, 11 balls) 

Deswin Currency c Holder b Bishop               1   (12 mins, 11 balls)

Shavon Brooks b Kirton                               2   (19 mins, 16 balls)  

Shkym Haynes not out                               11  (14 mins, 13 balls)

Extras (b3, lb2, nb3)                                    8   

TOTAL (all out, 63.4 overs)                         218    

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Richards 3.5 ov), 2-3 (Pierce, 6.3), 3-4 (Hart, 7.3), 4-4 (Hinds, 8.5), 5-31 (Herbert, 16), 6-192 (Springer, 52.1), 7-197 (Drakes, 55.5), 8-204 (Currency, 58.3), 9-206(Davis, 59.3), 10-218 (Brooks, 63.4).

Bowling: Holder 14-6-29-4 (nb4), Edwards 6-4-3-2, Boucher 2-0-10-0, Hurley 1-0-16-0, Blades 5-1-23-1 (nb2), Bishop 17-4-52-2, Cave 7-0-43-0, Niles 4-0-19-0, Kirton 7.4-0-18-1.

LENIKO BOUCHER'S X1 1st innings (overnight 77-3)

Shian Brathwaite c Burrowes b Drakes           10    (26 mins, 17 balls, 2x4)

Shakib Kellman c Callender b Drakes             16    (34 mins, 21 balls, 2x4)

Nico Reifer b Haynes                                     91    (315 mins, 291 balls, 6x4)

Nicholas Kirton lbw b Callender                      27    (34 mins, 32 balls, 3x4)

*Leniko Boucher lbw b Harris                        15     (22 mins, 34 balls, 1x4) 

Danyl Husbands b Brooks                              31   (48 mins, 69 balls, 3x4)

Shaquane Cave lbw b Harris                          11    (45 mins, 48 balls)

Sylvester Moore b Drakes                              35   (88 mins, 81 balls, 6x4)

Joshua Bishop lbw b Callender                       26   (37 mins, 23 balls, 4x4, 1x6)

Nagid Forde not out                                        5   (75 mins, 39 balls

Jadeja Edwards c Drakes b Smith                   29   (45 mins, 36 balls, 4x4)

Extras (b9, lb2, w2, nb8)                              21

TOTAL (all out, 114 overs)                            317

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Brathwaite, 5 ov), 2-29 (Kellman, 6.2), 3-64 (Kirton, 15.3), 4-88 (Boucher, 28), 5-151 (Husbands, 54.5), 6-185 (Cave, 71), 7-247 (Reifer, 97.1), 8-247 (Moore, 98.5), 9-280 (Bishop, 102.4), 10-317 (Edwards, 114).

Bowling: Drakes 18-4-43-3 (nb4), Smith 11-1-46-1 (w1, nb2), Haynes 12-3-41-1, Currency 13-4-39-0, Callender 15-3-35-2 (nb1), Brooks 11-3-24-1 (w1, nb1), Burrowes 8-1-26-0, Harris 13-4-27-2, Mayers 11-4-13-0, Herbert 2-0-12-0.

Toss: Springer's X1.

Umpires: Antonio Mayers, Dave Thompson.

Scorers: Amelia Crick, Jacqueline Crick.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

Antigua Observer article.

Antigua & Barbuda’s Minister of Sports EP Chet Greene believes that disbanding the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will not solve the issues plaguing the game in the region.

His sentiments echo that of the country’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne who, in a statement following the team’s triumph over England in the ICC World Twenty20 finals on Sunday, credited the WICB with being on the right path.

Greene said the hardcore approach could have far reaching implications for all involved.

“We see no value in disbanding the board; it would only lead to chaos. If the Caribbean governments were to ban the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), it means that Caribbean cricket and all the glory we are now enjoying could suffer. The cricketers who ply their trade in India, with a world ban on West Indies cricket will not have that opportunity to ply their trade and so therefore my call and the prime minister’s call has always been for sober, rational, sensible discussions,” he said.

“I am not saying the governments should take over or disband the West Indies Cricket Board, but what is required is for the model to be re-looked, where the stakeholder group called government has a little more say in the organisation and operation of cricket,” he added.

There have been several calls for the Dave Cameron-led board to step down, following post-game remarks by T20 captain Darren Sammy who, while dedicating the ICC World Twenty20 triumph to their fans, accused the WICB of disrespecting the players.

Greene believes Sammy spoke out of turn.

“You don’t spoil an occasion with the politics of the situation. Darren Sammy’s comments may very well be legitimate and may very well have a place in the discourse. I don’t want to pretend that all is well and so while his comments may be rooted in truism and give rise to the need to continue the reflective and engaging practices, I think what was done on the morning when the world was watching the region, kind of took away from, and blunted the moment,” he said.

The minister, also president of the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), has however warned against any sort of sanctions being taken against the player for the remarks.

“I hope that the talk of some form of sanction that those be entertained, that they not be encouraged but rather that, now that the game is over and the celebration is somewhat waning that those in authority would find time to get back to the table,” Greene said.

“What is required here is for there to be sober, sensible, civil discussions about cricket. The fact that the game brought back pride and nostalgia last Sunday means that Caribbean people are looking for more of this,” he added.

West Indies had won the tournament, defeating hosts Sri Lanka in the final in 2012 with their players being amongst the most sought after by T20 clubs around the world.

First Published In The Antigua Observer.

Barbados Today article.

Barbados cricket is in a healthy state, says chairman of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) senior selection committee, Hendy Wallace.

During IGS Insurance Brokers Yorkshire Club awards ceremony held this past Sunday at Waves Hotel in St James, Wallace said in the presence of the club’s president Louis Linton, BCA cricket operations manager, Roxanne Forte, and other guests, that if the current structure continued it would augur well for the development of Barbados’ cricketers. 

“The Herman Griffith Primary School tournament through to the Secondary School tournament and on to club level is a structure that has been identified by West Indies Cricket Board director of cricket, Richard Pybus during a meeting with the regional champions Guyana Cricket Board, as the template with which territories in the region should aim to align themselves.

It is felt that as this structure continues to improve it could only augur well for the development of our cricketers as they wish to ply their trade efficiently, not only in other parts of the world in franchise cricket but more importantly for the West Indies,” Wallace said.  

Yorkshire club can boast of a rich cricketing history that spans 66 years and Wallace explained that gone were the days when a Barbadian or West Indies cricketer could be identified from a village game. He said this had died a natural death with the emergence of various attractions and distractions that occupied the time and minds of the youth. 

He added that it was pleasing to see the BCA revert to awarding first innings points which he felt it was naive to abandon in the first place. 

“It seems as though the simple task of encouraging players to remain in the club house after a game for a chat is becoming more of a challenge. Let me say that it is amazing how much cricket one can learn off the field just from listening to the perspective of others or hearing of their experiences. Thus any cricketer fortunate enough to play at a higher level has an obligation in my view, on return to his or her club, to share some of those experiences because not everyone will be able to realize that dream. 

“It is unreasonable to expect three-day matches to be reduced to two days or even one day especially in the rainy season. So it is very likely that teams may only get one opportunity to bat in a game which means that those first innings points could be crucial. I would like to see the bowling team awarded full bowling points if the batting side declares within the allocated overs, provided that maximum batting points have not been attained,” explained Wallace, a former fast bowler in the early 1980s. 

He told members of the club that in order to ensure the survival of the club they needed to play their part in terms of timely payment of membership fees, bar bills and other things necessary to keep the club afloat. He implored young cricketers who came from other clubs that loyalty to Yorkshire was showing appreciation for the chance given to play with the team. 

Managing director of IGS Insurance Brokers, Tony King who has made an invaluable contribution to Yorkshire club over the years received a special lifetime achievement award from president Linton.

First Published In The Barbados Today.

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - All-rounder Matthew Forde of Combermere hit a fine, unbeaten century as a Barbados Select Under-15 side defeated the touring Staffordshire County Club Under-15 team from England by 58 runs on Thursday April 7 to level the three-match 40 overs series.

Playing at Pickwick Cricket Club, Foursquare Oval, in St. Philip, the well-built Forde made 114 not out as Barbados Under-15s sent in to bat, amassed  186 for seven from their 40 overs.   

In reply, the visitors were dismissed for 128 in 36.3 overs.

Forde went to the crease in the third over of the day. His overall knock came off 106 balls in 152 minutes with six fours and one six. The hundred took 98 balls, spiced with four fours and a six in 152 minutes.

The fast-medium bowler then returned to grab three for nine. He was well supported by medium-pacers Ramon Simmons and Tireak Williams with two wickets each for 14 and 23 runs respectively.

Archie O’Harra compiled a fighting 56, including four fours off 95 balls but lacked the necessary assistance.

In the first match on Wednesday, April 6 at St. Catherine Club in Bayfield, St. Philip, Staffordshire Under-15s beat another Barbados Under-15 Select team by eight wickets.

Electing to bat, Barbados Under-15s were limited to 121 for six. Rivaldo Clarke made 23, Jaden Norville 20 and Jediah Blades an unbeaten 17.

Staffordshire responded with 122 for two in 28.4 overs. Max Webber faced 76 deliveries and made a solid undefeated 50 with a solitary four. Jack Redman with 28 not out and Archie O’Harra 25 were the other contributors.

Summarised scores:

At Bayfield:

Staffordshire won by eight wickets.

Barbados Under-15s 121-6 (40 overs) (Rivaldo Clarke 23, Jaden Norville 20, Jediah Blades 17 not out, Tennyson Roach Jnr 12 not out; Jack Redman 2-6).

SCCC Under-15s 122-2 (28.4 overs) (Max Webber 50 not out, Jack Redman 28 not out, Archie O’Harra 25).

Toss: Barbados Under-15s.

Umpires: Trevor Blenman, Randolph McCollin. 

Scorers: Brendan Buchanan, John “Hippie” Griffith.

At Foursquare Oval:

Barbados Under-15s won by 58 runs.

Barbados Under-15s 186- 7 (40 overs) (Matthew Forde 114 not out - 106 balls, 152 minutes, 6 fours, 1 six; Seth Agard 23, Renacko Belgrave 14 not out, Shamar Forde 12; Jacob Bailey 2-14, Ben Douglas 2-20).

SCCC Under-15s 128 all out (36.3 overs) (Archie O’Harra 56 - 96 balls, 4 fours; Edmund Gaffney 13, Edgar Webber 11; Matthew Forde 3-9, Ramon Simmons 2-14, Tireak Williams 2-23).

Toss: SCCC Under-15s.

Umpires: Trevor Clement, Randolph McCollin. 

Scores: Brendan Buchanan, John “Hippie” Griffith.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - Leniko Boucher's X1 swept aside Shamar Springer's X1 by nine wickets on the third and final day of the second Barbados Under-19 three-day trial at Weymouth.

Facing a first innings deficit of 99 at the start of play on the last day, Springer's team tumbled to 133 all out in 50.2 overs.

Deswin Currency topscored with an unbeaten 32 at No. 5. He batted for 112 minutes, faced 86 balls and struck four boundaries.

Springer, one of the heroes of the West Indies Under-19 team's capture of the ICC Youth World Cup in Bangladesh in February, scored 24 following his first innings 113. He batted as low as No. 9 in the second innings.

Dante Niles took three for 18 off seven overs and left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop, three for 21 off 13.2 overs.

Boucher's side took just 5.4 overs to knock off their target of 35.

SCORECARD

SHAMAR SPRINGER'S X1 1st innings 

Mario Hinds c Moore b Holder                          1   (9 mins, 22 balls)

Demario Richards c Holder b Edwards              0   (8 mins, 11 balls)

Limar Pierce lbw b Holder                               3   (10 mins, 13 balls)

Dominic Hart b Edwards                                 0   (1 min, 4 balls)

Khalil Herbert c Hurley b Blades                       3   (33 mins, 24 balls)

*Shamar Springer c Moore b Bishop             113   (175 mins, 133 balls, 10x4, 1x6)

Jermain Davis c Boucher b Holder                   74   (174 mins, 127 balls, 6x4, 2x6)

Dominic Drakes b Holder                                 2   (13 mins, 11 balls)

Dane Currency c Holder b Bishop                     1   (12 mins, 11 balls)

Shavon Brooks b Kirton                                   2   (19 mins, 16 balls)

Shkym Haynes not out                                  11   (14 mins, 13 balls)

Extras (b3, lb2, nb3)                                       8

TOTAL (all out, 63.4 overs)                           218

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Richards 3.5 ov), 2-3 (Pierce, 6.3), 3-4 (Hart, 7.3), 4-4 (Hinds, 8.5), 5-31 (Herbert, 16), 6-192 (Springer, 52.1), 7-197 (Drakes, 55.5), 8-204 (Currency, 58.3), 9-206(Davis, 59.3), 10-218 (Brooks, 63.4).

Bowling: Holder 14-6-29-4 (nb4), Edwards 6-4-3-2, Boucher 2-0-10-0, Hurley 1-0-16-0, Blades 5-1-23-1 (nb2), Bishop 17-4-52-2, Cave 7-0-43-0, Niles 4-0-19-0, Kirton 7.4-0-18-1.

LENIKO BOUCHER'S X1 1st innings 

Shian Brathwaite c Burrowes b Drakes              10   (26 mins, 17 balls, 2x4)

Shakib Kellman c Callender b Drakes                16   (34 mins, 21 balls, 2x4)

Nico Reifer b Haynes                                       91   (315 mins, 291 balls, 6x4)

Nicholas Kirton lbw b Callender                        27   (34 mins, 32 balls, 3x4)

*Leniko Boucher lbw b Harris                           15   (22 mins, 34 balls, 1x4)

Danyl Husbands b Brooks                                31   (48 mins, 69 balls, 3x4)

Shaquane Cave lbw b Harris                            11   (45 mins, 48 balls)

+Sylvester Moore b Drakes                             35   (114 mins, 81 balls, 6x4)

Joshua Bishop lbw b Callender                         26   (37 mins, 23 balls, 4x4, 1x6)

Nagid Forde not out                                          5   (75 mins, 39 balls)

Jadeja Edwards c Drakes b Smith                     29   (45 mins, 36 balls, 4x4)

Extras (b9, lb2, w2, nb8)                                 21

TOTAL (all out, 114 overs)                              317

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Brathwaite, 5 ov), 2-29 (Kellman, 6.2), 3-64 (Kirton, 15.3), 4-88 (Boucher, 28), 5-151 (Husbands, 54.5), 6-185 (Cave, 71), 7-247 (Reifer, 97.1), 8-247 (Moore, 98.5), 9-280 (Bishop, 102.4), 10-317 (Edwards, 114).

Bowling: Drakes 18-4-43-3 (nb4), Smith 11-1-46-1 (w1, nb2), Haynes 12-3-41-1, Currency 13-4-39-0, Callender 15-3-35-2 (nb1), Brooks 11-3-24-1 (w1, nb1), Burrowes 8-1-26-0, Harris 13-4-27-2, Mayers 11-4-13-0, Herbert 2-0-12-0.

SHAMAR SPRINGER'S 2nd innings

M. Hinds b Kirton                                            17   (90 mins, 51 balls, 1x4)

D. Richards c wk Moore b Kirton                       19   (68 mins, 59 balls, 1x4)

L. Pierce st Moore b Bishop                                2   (16 mins, 15 balls)

D. Currency not out                                         32   (112 mins, 86 balls, 4x4)

+S. Watson c Brathwaite b Niles                        16   (26 mins, 25 balls, 2x4)

D. Hart c Brathwaite b Cave                               2   (10 mins, 8 balls)

S. Brooks c Holder b Niles                                  0   (3 mins, 4 balls)

T. Harris c & b Niles                                           1   (8 mins, 6 balls)

*S. Springer c Edwards b Holder                       24   (33 mins, 32 balls, 2x4)

K. Herbert c Kirton b Bishop                               2   (19 mins, 16 balls)

J. Davis lbw b Bishop                                         0   (2 mins, 1 ball)

Extras (b12, lb5, nb1)                                      18

TOTAL (all out, 50.2 overs)                              133

Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Richards, 15.5 ov), 2-48 (Pierce, 20.3), 3-48 (Hinds, 21.1), 4-74 (Watson, 29.2), 5-81 (Hart, 32.3), 6-82 (Brooks, 33.2), 7-88 (Harris, 35.3), 8-124 (Springer, 45.2), 9-133 (Herbert, 50.1), 10-133 (Davis, 50.2).

Bowling: Holder 7-2-15-1 (nb1), Edwards 4-2-6-0, Kirton 12-2-35-2, Bishop 13.2-5-21-3, Cave 7-2-20-1, Niles 7-1-18-3.

LENIKO BOUCHER'S X1 2nd innings

+Z. Harewood not out                                        10   (26 mins, 17 balls)

C. Holder lbw b Drakes                                         0   (4 mins, 3 balls)

S. Blades not out                                               18   (22 mins, 14 balls, 2x4)

Extras (b8)                                                          8

TOTAL (1 wk, 5.4 ov)                                          36

Fall of wicket: 1-1 (Holder, 1 ov).

Bowling: Drakes 3-0-10-1, Haynes 2-0-11-0, Smith 0.4-0-7-0.

Result: Boucher's X1 won by nine wickets.

Toss: Springer's X1.

Umpires: Antonio Mayers, Dave Thompson.

Scorers: Amelia Crick, Jacqueline Crick.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

Barbados Nation article.

Highlights from the VIP reception at the Grantley Adams International Airport and motorcade for the victorious West Indies Women’s cricketers, winners of the ICC World T20 Tournament.

It was held in Barbados on April 5, 2016.

First Published In The Barbados Nation.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados Cricket Association president, Joel Garner, has hit out at the CARICOM-commissioned Governance Panel’s controversial recommendation that the West Indies Cricket Board be dissolved.

Garner, the legendary former West Indies fast bowler and a current WICB director, questioned the practicality of the proposed move, contending that all the boards which comprised the regional governing body were legitimate legal entities and therefore, they could not be simply struck down.

“My questions are: is the BCA which was constituted by an act of Parliament in 1933, an illegal entity and my selection as president of the BCA and illegal act?” Garner queried, while speaking at the BCA’s quarterly meeting here Thursday.

“So I have to ask the question: is the GCB (Guyana Cricket Board) an illegal entity? Is the Jamaica Cricket [Association] an illegal entity? Is the Leeward Islands Cricket Association an illegal entity? Is the Windward Islands Cricket Board an illegal entity? Is the TTCB (Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board) an illegal entity?”

He continued: “If they are so, they have all been established in countries in which the prime ministers are making noise and they have to tell the public of the region if these entities are illegal, how they were able to remain vibrant for so long.”

In proposing the dissolution of the WICB, the Governance Panel, headed by UWI Cave Hill Principal Eudine Barriteau, also recommended the appointment of an interim board “whose structure and composition will be radically different from the now proven, obsolete governance framework.”

And while CARICOM Heads have embraced the recommendation and resolved to ensure its implementation, the WICB, headed by controversial president Dave Cameron, has rejected it as an “unnecessary and intrusive demand.”

The board also slammed the report as “limited in scope”, arguing that the panel’s investigations had “triggered findings and recommendations … which are not supported by the facts.”

“The dissolution of the Board is simply not a viable legal or practical option and carries a major financial risk which the panel either ignored or was unaware of,” the WICB told CARICOM in a written response earlier this year.

Last month, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said CARICOM was soliciting legal advice on the “legal position” of West Indies cricket.

KOLKATA, India, CMC – All-rounder Carlos Brathwaite says his new-found Twenty20 fame has not thwarted his love for Test cricket, and hopes to fashion a successful career across all three formats of the game.

The 27-year-old shot to international prominence last Sunday when he belted consecutive sixes off the first four deliveries of the final over of the men’s Twenty20 World Cup, to fire West Indies to a dramatic win over England.

And even as he prepared to play his first game of the Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils on Sunday here, Brathwaite said the longest format still held plenty appeal for him.

“Personally I do love Test cricket and I enjoy watching the boring parts of Test cricket – a batsman batting out long periods of time and then overcoming that to score a hundred. I take each facet of the game in each format at its best,” the Barbadian said.

“T20 … it is a good spectator sport as well but then there is Test cricket where you get to test yourself against the values of the format – like facing a barrage of bouncers and getting past that, taking a few knocks and playing the swinging ball and seeing though a good spell to capitalise and get a hundred.”

He added: “As a bowler, bowling a 10-over spell to go on for another two overs just to bring the team back into the game. I think all three facets has its place within the sport and I enjoy being a part of all three.

“The better cricketers in the world are able to adapt from T20 to 50 overs to Test cricket and it is a challenge that I set myself – to be able to play all three formats and be successful in all three.”

Brathwaite has also had a successful introduction to Test cricket. He made his debut against Australia in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne and scored a patient 59 in the first innings during a two-hour knock.

In the following Test in Sydney, he upped the tempo to blast a quick-fire 69 from 71 balls, with seven fours and four sixes.

Brathwaite said working with Delhi Daredevils mentor, Test legend Rahul Dravid, would allow him the opportunity to further improve his game – especially in the area of playing spin.

“I find myself privileged enough to be working along with someone I have idolised all my career and that is Rahul Dravid,” Brathwaite told reporters.

“We had a couple of chats and it is good to hear from him as a person and as a player on what are the areas that I would look to improve on in terms of playing spin and I spoke to Rahul about it.

“I hope that at the end of six weeks I go back to the West Indies with better understanding of how to play spin bowling, how to rotate it, how to score off it and how to take that knowledge from the IPL back to the West Indies.”

KOLKATA, India, CMC – West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell hurt Delhi Daredevils with a three-wicket haul, as Carlos Brathwaite tasted defeat on debut in a nine-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game of the Indian Premier League here Sunday.

Seamer Russell grabbed three for 24 from three overs as KKR, opting to bowl first, bundled Delhi out for a paltry 98 off 17.4 overs at Eden Gardens.

Left-arm spinner Brad Hogg claimed three for 19 while pacer John Hastings (2-6) and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (2-21) supported with two wickets apiece.

Not a single Delhi batsman made it into the 20s and South African Quinton de Kock was their top-scorer with 17.

In reply, KKR cruised to their target in the 15th over with captain and opener Gautam Gambhir stroking an unbeaten 38 and Robin Uthappa getting 35.

The pair put on 69 for the first wicket.

It was Russell who crippled the Delhi innings early on, removing de Kock to a catch mid-off in the third over and trapping Shreyas Iyer lbw without scoring four balls later in the same over, to leave Delhi on 25 for two

In his next over, Russell knocked over opener Mayank Agarwal for nine, caught at third man with the score on 31 for three.

Brathwaite, batting at number seven, looked to be continuing from where he left off in the Twenty20 World Cup when he blasted Chawla for a massive six off the second ball he faced.

But he perished two balls later when he missed a googly and was lbw for six.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Under-fire West Indies Cricket Board president, Dave Cameron, has pushed back on recent widespread criticism of his leadership, and says he has always acted in the best interest of West Indies cricket.

Cameron, who was elected to the top post three years and successfully gained re-election last year, said much of the criticism he had received was “absurd” and argued he would be eventually vindicated by history.

The Jamaican has been fending off criticism ever since captain Darren Sammy during a post-match interview blasted the WICB for “disrespecting” the players, after West Indies won the Twenty20 World Cup in India last Sunday.

“I am not here to destroy the game. We just won three World titles and the feeling is I want to mash it up,” Cameron told the Nation newspaper here.

“I can’t believe some of the criticism I am receiving. It is absurd. My heart is with the Caribbean 100 per cent. I am a Caribbean man. I am for the good of West Indies cricket.”

Cameron’s tenure has been embroiled in controversy ever since the West Indies one-day side controversially walked off the tour of India, over a pay dispute with the board and players union, WIPA.

Cameron copped blame for not doing enough to solve the dispute and the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) subsequently said it held the WICB responsible.

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, said Cameron had “embarrassed us before the world” and called on him to step down.

Cameron also came in for criticism for his controversial tweet regarding superstar opener Chris Gayle’s form during last year’s World Cup and again found himself in trouble on the online social network, Twitter, last week when he appeared to lash out at Sammy for his post-match criticisms of the board.

Cameron argued his most recent tweet had been misunderstood.

“I have had a lot of criticism about a tweet that has gone on my timeline. Go to my timeline and look,” he said.

“There are motivational tweets on my timeline every day. Why could someone not used that tweet to say I was saying to Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels to do not let the critics get to you.

“I have also tweeted to Darren Sammy and Stafanie Taylor wishing them luck. History will be kind to me. I will be vindicated.”

The WICB and the players clashed over pay prior to the start of the T20 World Cup and with the two parties seemingly on another collision course, Cameron said he was open to “meet with anyone” in order to find a solution.

“I am very straightforward. I am prepared to meet with anyone and discuss the way forward,” he stressed.

“I know what I am about. I have been the president of a cricket club in Jamaica for the last 16 years and a member for 32 years.”

Barbados Cricket Association article.

Bridgetown, Barbados - A fine, all-round match-winning performance from Jacob Bethell guided a Barbados Select Under-15 side to a three-wicket win over the touring Staffordshire County Cricket Club Under-15s from England.

After defeat in the first match on Wednesday, Barbados Under-15s won the 40 over-a-side three-match series 2-1.

At the KMV Oval, Lakes in St. Andrew on Friday, April 8,  Staffordshire made 104 off 26.3 overs after losing the toss.  

Barbados Under-15s responded with 105 for seven from 34 overs.

Jack Redman topscored for Staffordshire with 27 from 29 balls with two fours.

Off-spinner Nicholas Austin claimed three wickets without conceding a run from five overs.  

Left-arm spinners Bethell and Rondre Yearwood took two wickets apiece for five and 13 runs respectively. Left-arm pacer Jediah Blades picked up two for 24.

Barbados Under-15s slipped to 25 for three in nine overs, before opener Bethell and Tennyson Roach Jnr revived the innings by adding 48 for the fourth wicket in 14.4 overs. 

Twelve-year-old Bethel made 41 including seven fours off 78 balls.

Roach faced 39 deliveries for his knock of 14. Rivaldo Clarke, who also had a fine day, with five dismissals behind the stumps, was there at the end with an unbeaten 19 including a four from 33 balls.

Jacob Bailey captured three for 24 from eight overs.

Summarised scores:

SCCC Under-15s 104 all out in (26.3 overs) (Jack Redman 27, Max Webber 16, Adam Peat 11; Nicholas Austin 3-0, Jacob Bethell 2-5, Rondre Yearwood 2-13, Jediah Blades 2-24).

Barbados Select Under-15s 105-7 (34 overs) (Jacob Bethell 41, Rivaldo Clarke 19, Tennyson Roach Jnr 14; Jacob Bailey 3-24).

Toss: Barbados Under-15s.

Umpires: Mervyn Corbin, Lester Millington.

Scores: Brendon Buchanan, John “Hippie” Griffith.

First Published On bcacricket.org.

KOLKATA, India, CMC – West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell produced a whirlwind knock but then conceded 17 runs in the penultimate over as Mumbai Indians pulled off a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders with five balls to spare in the Indian Premier League here Thursday.

Sent in, KKR piled up an imposing 187 for five at Eden Gardens with captain Gautam Gambhir top-scoring with 64, Manish Pandey, 52, and Russell a 17-ball 36.

In reply, captain Rohit Sharma stroked a glittering unbeaten 84 and Englishman Jos Buttler, a sensational 41, as Mumbai romped home in the final over.

With the result, both KKR and Mumbai have now won one of two.

The hosts lost Robin Uthappa cheaply for eight at 21 in the fourth over but Gambhir and Pandey put on exactly 100 to fire the innings.

Opener Gambhir struck four fours and a six off 52 deliveries while Pandey faced 29 balls and crashed three fours and three sixes.

At Pandey’s dismissal in the 14th over, Russell arrived to play a blinder, smashing a four and four sixes as he added a frenetic 43 off 22 deliveries for the third wicket with Gambhir.

Two of his sixes came through hefty leg-side blows in the 15th over from seamer Tim Southee which cost 16 runs.

Mumbai then started steadily, with Rohit putting on 53 for the first wicket with Parthiv Patel (22) and a further 34 for the second wicket with Hardik Pandya (9).

At the half-way stage, the visitors faced a required run rate of nearly 10 runs per over in order to get the remaining 87 runs and Buttler provided the impetus in a scintillating 22-ball innings containing three fours and three sixes.

He single-handedly took 18 runs from Russell’s third over over – the 16th of the innings – before falling to the Jamaican in his next over, the penultimate one of the game.

Mumbai needed 18 at the start of that over and even though Russell claimed Buttler to a skied catch at mid-off, Rohit smashed the last three balls of the over for boundaries to add to the straight four off the first delivery, as KKR squandered their hopes of winning.

Pacer Russell finished with one for 52 from his four overs.

Cricinfo article.

Coach Phil Simmons talks about the direction the team needs to take, and the problem of not having the best group of players representing the region in all formats.

Ian Bishop said West Indies making it to the final was beyond his "wildest dreams". Were you more confident?

Yes, I have been, especially since we had the small camp in Dubai, where I sat down with the guys, heard them talk and [saw] their passion about wanting to win the tournament. The way [Dwayne] Bravo, the captain [Darren Sammy] and Chris [Gayle] were talking about winning the tournament just summed up for me that we are going to go far in the World T20.

What does it take to get West Indies players together for the big events when some of them do not turn out for the team for years in between?

It is the passion of playing for West Indies. They all still want to play for West Indies as much as they can. It is unfortunate how things are, in that they don't play as much, but when they are together, they want to do well for West Indies.

On the eve of the tournament I told them how far we can go in the tournament. I always stress that I am a winner and I want to win, and then I open it up. The captain spoke about his passion to win the tournament for the second time. Bravo spoke. I remember Marlon Samuels saying, "Let's go and take what is ours."

You had just two T20Is with the West Indies side before this tournament began. The team had only eight T20I matches between the last World T20 and this one. How do you work with a group like that? 

Two T20Is in a year when other teams are playing ten and 12 is definitely not enough. But the nice thing about the guys is they are a closed unit, and we saw that about two or three days into the Dubai camp. They were working well with each other and I did not have much work to do.

The harmony they build is because of two things: the camaraderie they share from playing for West Indies; and the common fight they have together. That "we against them" feeling.

From the moment they have won the World T20, the players have elaborated on problems they faced going into the tournament - the jerseys not being ready, playing without caps, the WICB asking the selectors to be ready for a player strike over the match-fee dispute. How did you handle the situation?

I knew there was no threat of a strike. I spoke to the captain. I spoke to Bravo. I spoke to Chris. They told me we are going to play, but we need to get some answers. So I was not stressed.

As for the other parts, about clothes, I only got involved when the manager [Rawl Lewis] went to India and started spending two-three hours at the factory, into the middle of the night, to get the men's and women's clothes sorted. It is only when Rawl started to have these problems it became such a big stress.

"In order for us to not be scrambling to qualify for the next World Cup, we need to be playing our best team and winning and moving up the table"

Is it true that you asked each of the senior players to adopt a junior player and groom him during the World T20?

The point made to the senior players was that if we are going to win this tournament, it depends on how the junior players perform and not the seasoned T20 players, who have been playing around the world. So it was about how the junior players who have just come in [to the squad] - [Carlos] Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, who have not been playing too much of T20 cricket - perform.

From early in the camp, Bravo was working heavily with Jerome Taylor and Carlos on their bowling. Stuart Williams was pushing on how the guys hit. It was not something that had to be said. The onus was taken up by all the senior players. I made note of one of the younger players commenting, "Boy, the camp was nice because of how much the senior players shared."

Were there learning points for you? You don't have much coaching experience in T20s.

It was a very interesting tournament for me. I have always been able to get people to step up and push themselves. But understanding what I have to do to get them to push themselves was the big learning part for me.

It is a case where I have my own ideas of T20 cricket, [but it was also about] pulling Chris Gayle aside, getting his ideas, talking to Bravo and Sammy and getting their ideas, then put things together and know what we had to do. A lot of it was down to them and how they won with their own hands.

Can you talk about your journey so far?

(Laughs) The journey started off nicely, but it has been rough, particularly since just after August [last year]. It is particularly rough, in that the fact that the direction I visualise for West Indies men's senior team to be successful seems to be contrary to others,

However, just before the start of of the T20 World Cup I put together a "Moving Forward" plan and submitted it to the board, as I had promised I would do during the last board meeting, in August last year. I have not heard anything back from them as yet, but hopefully there will be a productive discussion where can arrive at some common goals.

When you are looking at our cricket, there is a certain way to develop this cricket, there is a certain way for us to go to be successful, and if it is not going to go that way, well then, we are going to continue struggling.

All the other things - people coming at you, and not backing you, I can deal with those things, but just the fact that it is West Indies cricket we are dealing with and I want West Indies cricket to move forward - so hopefully lines of communication will open up, otherwise it can be particularly difficult.

What were the main things you asked for in the first meeting when you took over?

We have to understand that we are eighth [in Tests] and ninth [in ODIs] on the rankings table. And we have always been at the top in T20 cricket. If we were to always play our best teams in those two formats [T20s and ODIs], then we would be at the top in those two formats. Then our Test cricket can take its time and develop itself. But for now, when you are low down, it is hard to sell your product.

Are you saying the priority should be limited-overs cricket?

Let us say we have the 16 players who just won the T20 World Cup, along with Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, and so on, who were not there. So we have about 20 international limited-overs players. If we play our best team in the two formats [ODIs and T20Is], we will be at the top of the two formats. There is no doubt about that. Everybody around the world talks about that. While we are at the top of those two formats, our Test cricket will be stepping up and up.

You must have had a road map as to where you want to be after a year. Are you somewhat closer to the goal that you had set for yourself?

The World T20 crown was always part of it, but the disappointment right now is not being able to try and win the Champions Trophy next year. That was part of my steps. If we won this T20 trophy then you put your focus on the Champions Trophy next. When you win that, you have two years to work with and develop those 15, 16, 17 players to play in the World Cup in 2019. While all this was happening, we would be building the Test team. It's a full development.

Do you reckon with all that has happened in the past six months, you will get the best squads for future series, including the tri-series (involving Australia and South Africa) and the scheduled India tour? Will they include those who played in the World T20?

There has been talk already that players who did not come back and play in the Super50 [domestic List A competition] won't be selected [for the tri-series]. But you are talking about seven or eight of the best players in the world.

If you are not going to select them, then the other two teams coming into this tri-series are going to be smiling, because the challenge of playing against West Indies at home without Gayle, Sammy, [Andre] Russell, Bravo, [Lendl] Simmons seems easier. We have seen what all of them can do in the World T20 and we have seen what they can do in 50-over cricket.

In order for us to not be scrambling to qualify for the next World Cup, we need to be winning and moving up the table. By September next year we [would] have gone up the table and entered an area where we don't have to fight pre-tournament.

"There is a big hard line on the fact that these guys don't play ten four-day games in order to be selected for Test cricket. And I can't see any of these guys play ten four-day games without a contract from the WICB"

What is Clive Lloyd's selection panel or the WICB telling you? Are they going to relax the condition about playing in the regional tournaments?

The panel has not spoken of late on this. The CEO [Michael Muirhead] had put out a statement, I don't know how long back, saying that these guys are not going to be selected if they don't play in the Super50, outlining that that is the board's policy, so going forward perhaps that is another area we can review.

Are you happy with the 15 Test players who were offered retainers in January? Did you have a say in the shortlist?

The list is done by the selectors. I don't really comment about the list.

Earlier this year, in Australia, you said: "It's enjoyable to see Andre Russell bowling at 140 clicks, and Bravo hitting three or four sixes, and Chris back in it. It is frustrating that we don't have them here playing the Test series." How much have things changed now?

With all that is going on now, it is not going to change, because there is a big hard line on the fact that these guys don't stay home and play ten four-day games in order to be selected for Test cricket. And it is not going to change because I can't see any of these guys play ten four-day games without a contract from the WICB.

What is the relationship you share with Richard Pybus, the WICB director of cricket?

Relationship is a difficult word. He communicates via emails but he has not spoken to me since the suspension. It's sad because this is not about him or me, this is about West Indies cricket. There has not even been any personal or team congratulatory message on the World Cup win.

What is the relationship you have with the WICB president?

It is the same thing. It was good when I first came in. I would get the occasional text message and I earned a big hug when we won the Test match in Barbados [against England], but since my suspension there has been no communication, not verbal nor written, and again no congratulatory message.

Is it difficult to keep your chin up and motivate yourself since you are the captain of the ship, so to speak?

For me it is not difficult because the ship is West Indies cricket. The ship is not the president or the director of cricket or Phil Simmons. West Indies cricket means more to me than anything else.

Especially working with the younger players, getting them to understand what they have to do at the international level, keeps my head up all the time. My professionalism also helps me to continually to put in my best in my job.

What did you learn from the Australia tour, your first major overseas assignment?

We were murdered early on, but I enjoyed the fact that I could see there was improvement in the thought of what we had to do as players. In the second Test match, there was a big fight. For a long while we have not scored over 300 runs in an innings against the top nations, so it was good to see us doing it couple of times in the last two matches. For a long time we have not batted for 80-100 overs [in an innings].

It is little things like that where you have to start with the Test team. You could see a lot of younger players started to understand what Test cricket is about. It was exceptional see how young [Darren] Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite batted, and it was exciting when Carlos Braithwaite made his debut [in Melbourne]. These were things to take from Australia.

There seems to be a lack of leaders performing and leading successfully for long periods of time. Denesh Ramdin, Darren Bravo, even Samuels, have been around for a while but have never taken up the mantle convincingly.

When we came back from Australia, I thought: why have Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Joe Root gone so quickly up to the top of Test cricket? And you look at who they all played with when they came into Test cricket: Kohli had [Rahul] Dravid, [Sachin] Tendulkar around him. Williamson had Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor. Root had Alastair Cook and other senior players around him.

I don't know if we realise how massive these senior players are. When Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell came in, they both had Chris Gayle there in the dressing room. That helped them develop quicker, by talking and playing and practising with guys like that.

We take longer to develop because we don't have a lot of senior players in the team who will guide the younger guys. Kraigg Brathwaite is still developing as a Test cricketer; Bravo, the same thing, even though both have played quite a few Test matches.

When we were playing, even the likes of the great Courtney Walsh and Sir Curtly Ambrose had the benefit of [drawing on] the experience of the late Malcolm Marshall, [Michael] Holding and [Joel] Garner to groom us. I had the likes of the greats [Gordon] Greenidge and [Desmond] Haynes on the field and in the dressing room. It was essential to our learning and development.

Can you explain the difference between Samuels in Australia and Samuels in India?

Marlon played really well against England when I came in. He struggled in Sri Lanka and Australia, but he has just turned the corner a little. The World T20 lifted him a lot because he has had a lot of success in it in the past. He said also that some comments lifted him in the World T20.

"I would get the occasional text message from the [board] president, but since my suspension there has been no communication, not verbal nor written, and again no congratulatory message"

You rushed towards Samuels and held him as he went about shouting angrily immediately after West Indies beat England in the World T20 final. What did you say to him?

I just tried to hold him and say, "You have answered them. Whoever it is you wanted to fight with, whoever it is you wanted prove things to, you have answered them. You don't need to do any more."

Have you spoken to Gayle about his desire to play Test cricket?

Chris had his back surgery [last year]. Based on what I have seen in the World T20, he is getting stronger. I am sure he will be fully fit soon and he can play Test cricket. But the statement has been made that you have to stay home and play ten four-day games in order to be selected for Test cricket. Chris has not retired from anything.

Have you asked him whether he intends to play Test cricket in the time he has remaining as a player?

Chris wants to play everything. He wants to play every format of the game for West Indies. That is a huge thing that I have learned - that these guys want to play every format for West Indies.

Clearly then the perception that some of them don't want to play Test cricket is wrong?

It is just a perception. These guys want to play international cricket for West Indies and they want to see West Indies successful at the international level.

Should West Indies schedule more T20Is to capitalise on the strength of their team in the format?

I sat down in December and saw teams having six T20Is before the World T20. We, along with Bangladesh and possibly Zimbabwe, were the only teams not to have enough T20I matches. I tried to get some more because we needed to play, but none was forthcoming. So we had little help in preparation and had to just make do.

It is a no-brainer to capitalise on our T20 strength. It is like we are able to hit sixes but we are trying to win games with singles. You need to use what is your strength.

West Indies cricket's strength is limited-overs cricket and we need to be able to be at the top of the two formats and sell that thing in order for our company to grow. But I believe we see things differently. So again, looking forward maybe this is something we can work on and either agree to disagree or find a compromise.

Do you fear for West Indies cricket?

Everybody who has put on the maroon cap and the maroon blazer feels for West Indies cricket. We have won few trophies, but we have a long way to go.

What are the challenges ahead of you?

The immediate challenge is being able to get the best team on the park in all formats. The Caribbean is buzzing now. The more we win, the more people will want to play cricket and want to get back into cricket.

For me, the real challenge is to get people to understand that this is the direction West Indies cricket should be taking. If I don't get people to understand that, then I don't know what is next.

First Published On Cricinfo.

West Indies Cricket Board President Dave Cameron (right) makes a symbolic cheque presentation of US$10,000 to vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, for UWI’s Global Giving Week launch during the programme at the UWI Regional Headquarters last Friday.

Sir Hilary Beckles launched the programme aimed at raising resources to fund research, educate and prepare leaders across the regional. The Global Giving Week is to be observed from July 31 to August 6 each year.

Jamaica Observer.