A well-played inning - Former CWI president highlights achievements during tenure

It has been just over three months since Dave Cameron and Emmanuel Nanthan demitted the office of president and vice-president, respectively, of Cricket West Indies Inc, having lost the election to Ricky Skerritt and Dr Kishore Shallow back in March of this year.

The duo, through a release to the media, thanked the fraternity for its support, wished the new administration success, and took the opportunity to remind the cricket-loving Caribbean public about what they had achieved during their tenure.

Cameron, who served as president from 2013, made it clear that he and his deputy have left the regional governing body in good stead, having entered office at a tumultuous time.

“You will recall that we took office in 2013, and then we were met with declining performances from all of our cricket teams; an accumulated deficit of US$6 million from the previous financial year; a proliferation of players opting to play in the T20 leagues; a halt in cricket development due to financial constraints; and a mounting bill for legal costs on account of litigation with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).”

Cameron, who had been a CWI director since 2002 and served as vice-president under Julian Hunte from 2007 to 2013 before beating Hunte to the post in 2013, pointed out that he and Nanthan were able to stabilise the financial system and improve the cricket infrastructure.

“We introduced the 19-Point Plan, which is expected, if followed, to strengthen our teams and to lead to consistent wins. We also introduced a new WICB/WIPA MOU/CBA, which apportioned a 25 per cent share of CWI’s revenues to the players. We have enhanced the internal structures of the organisation and established a corporate governance and nominations committee, as recommended by the Wilkin Report.”

PROPER GUIDELINES

He added further that all standing committees of the board had proper terms of reference and were resourced as well as fit and proper guidelines, which informed the calibre of directors being put forward by both member and non-member directors. There was also the development of a conflict of interest disclosure policy and policies on the signing of contracts.

The 48-year-old Cameron went on to mention that his team had also established an Ethics Committee, which monitored the ethical environment of the organisation as well as established an Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC), which was recommended by the Wilkin Report.

Like a proud father welcoming a child into the world, Cameron gleamed over what he described as the most significant contribution of his term in office: introducing the Professional Cricket League (PCL) to the region.

“We have left behind a scenario whereby there are now 177 players on contract within the system. We now, have seven chief executive officers and seven marketing officers related to cricket in the region. We also have cricket operations officers in each franchise within the region, plus there are at least 14 cricket coaches at a minimum Level 2 in the region and seven strength and conditioning coaches in the region. Each franchise now has a physiotherapist, plus we have elevated the curators within the territory.”

KEY DECISIONS

Cameron is of the belief that the recent good performances of the Windies team, which retained the Wisden Trophy from England recently, is as a result of some key decisions that were made such as the purchase of the Coolidge Cricket grounds to host teams as well as the appointment of a head of sports science and medicine and a head curator, which has resulted in better pitch ratings from the ICC.

“You will recall the feat of history in 2016 when the Caribbean people were proud to witness its teams win three ICC trophies! In no other cricketing nation in the world has this ever been recorded. In 2018, our women reached the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup.”

As part of the sports coaching development under Cameron, thirty-two foundation courses were held which accounted for 207 certified coaches from 2015 to 2018. There was also five Level 1 courses conducted in conjunction with the England and Wales Cricket Board, which resulted in 93 coaches being certified from 2015 to 2018. There were also two Level 3 courses that saw 50 certified coaches from 2015 to 2018 with a further thirty-six to be held in 2019.