As it enters 2022, the Ricky Skerritt–led Cricket West Indies (CWI) should be seeking to have a much-improved year from the annus horribilis that its 2021 can now only be best described as having been. Towards that end here are our top 15 suggestions for resolutions CWI should now be seeking to fulfill during this 2022 New Year.
01. CWI must request of the ruling Governments of its respective member countries that
they should mandate, by September 2022, the addition of West Indies cricket history to the curriculum of all primary and secondary schools within the region.
02. CWI should similarly request of such Governments that they must also mandate the addition of a paid cricket coach to the staffing component of each secondary school within the region.
03. The local cricket boards within CWI’s member countries must organize primary and secondary schools cricket competitions at the U11, U13, U15, U17, and U19 levels.
04. Local cricket boards should mandate that their participating league teams include at least two U23 players, one bowler, and a batsman each.
05. Cricket West Indies (CWI) should organize a region-wide prize competition for the development of an attractive promotional poster that charts the available progression pathway from U11 cricket through to representing West Indies in Tests, ODIs, and T20 cricket. Brian Lara, Jason Holder, and Dwayne Bravo’s photos should be included for placement at the top of the pathway as examples of how lucrative potential West Indies cricket careers can be. The winning poster should be placed in all primary and secondary schools throughout the region.
06. CWI should also revert to its previous practice of hosting designated schoolchildren stands at Caribbean hosted international matches. At least 1000 schoolchildren, from different schools, should be allowed free entry to all international matches played in the Caribbean. Regular visits to schools by legendary former players on “Legends Days” should also become a feature of the annual school calendar.
07. CWI should also develop and implement discounted family group ticket pricing for its hosted international matches.
08. CWI should expand its Regional four-day competition from six to eight teams through the addition of teams representing a) a regional U23 team and b) a team comprised of bona fide registered students from the Universities of the West Indies and Guyana, as well as any other tertiary education colleges within the region.
09. CWI should reconvene its annual Super50 tournament as a 10-team competition including representative teams from Canada and the USA.
10. CWI should request and secure the Caribbean Premier League’s (CPL) agreement to expand its participating franchises roster from 6 to 8 teams. The two additional teams should be Canadian and US franchises. Their 17 member rosters should each be comprised of 10 local players, 5 West Indians, and 2 international marquee cricketers.
11. CWI, along with Cricket Canada and USA Cricket, should establish annual tri-nation tournaments for U23 players in both the 50 and T20 formats.
12. CWI should develop and implement initiatives aimed at monetizing the now still existing interest in and loyalty to West Indies cricket of its estimated 2 million-plus global fans. Generated revenues from initiatives such as the sale of acquired, inexpensive, China/India-made player shirts to West Indies fans at pricing no higher than US$25, can be used directly and specifically towards projects related to the further development of Caribbean youth cricket.
13. CWI should establish its own Annual Awards to recognize the outstanding calendar year accomplishments of its players across all three of international crickets’ current formats. CWI’s annual recognition should also include a Tony Cozier Media Award to the past year’s most outstanding Caribbean cricket journalist.
14. CWI should establish a two-year plan for its participation in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cups. The West Indies team’s 2022 T20 World Cup objective should be to first qualify then to progress beyond the Super6 into the semi/finals. The team’s objective for the 2024 Caribbean hosted tournament should be to emerge as champions! CWI should establish similar team objectives for the 2023 and 2027 ICC 50 Over World Cups. It should bid to host the 2027 tournament and aim for the team to be champions. Finally, CWI should also develop a six-year plan for West Indies to become Test Cricket champions by 2028, the 100th anniversary of the West Indies entry into Test cricket.
15. All cricket development plans, procedures and practices such as the aforementioned tri-formats World Cup/Championship goals, should be the work of a reconstituted 9- member Cricket Committee. The Committee’s membership should be comprised of one former player representative for each of the six regional boards, the CWI Cricket Development Manager, the Selections Panel Chair, as well as its own appointed Chairperson. The Committee must have an established schedule of meetings and its decisions should be reflected in selected West Indies teams.
If it does indeed implement at least some, if not all, of the aforementioned suggestions, our bet would be that come this time next year any analysis of CWI’s past 12 months would then be considerably more favorable than it has been for 2021.
