It would be fair to say, following the team’s “disgraceful” exit from the Super12 Qualification stage of the recently concluded ICC 2022 T20 World Cup, that West Indies cricket now finds itself at a crossroads. With two clearly available but divergent paths and associated actions to choose from.
Path A would be for a status quo maintained yet further deterioration of the West Indies’ international reputational standing that would make the most recent, unprecedented, premature exit World Cup experience seem like an unpleasant tea party. Path B, conversely, would be paved with milestones of the complete eradication of the far too many existing square pegs in round holes holders of key positions. Resulting in the development of cohesively constructed plans that will ultimately allow the phoenix of West Indies cricket to rise from the ashes of its current decay en route to the restoration of its full and former glory as a globally respected entity in all three of international cricket’s current formats.
As suggested, the first requirement for the better choice path B to redemption and reclaimed glory must be the restructuring of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Administration and the accompanying removal of all those whose performance of their respective duties has fallen short of the standards required. It took several weeks after Head Coach Phil Simmons had done the right thing by falling on his sword and submitting his resignation, for CWI President Ricky Skerritt to finally announce the formation of a three-member independent Committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the circumstances surrounding the team’s embarrassing World Cup performance. Thankfully, Skerritt’s term of office now has only a few remaining months until next March when his tenure will be relegated to that of an unpleasant, readily forgotten, memory of unfulfilled promises.
Whoever succeeds Skerritt as President must as his very first act of office also engage in a complete cleansing and restructuring of CWI’s administrative staff and its Standing Committees. CEO Johnny Grave, who despite having publicly accepted responsibility for the team’s recent World Cup performance, however, saw no need to follow Coach Simmons’ worthy example by submitting his own resignation, should be thanked for his past services and shown the door when his contract expires next June. Accompanying him through the exit should be his current Commercial, Media Relations, and Operations Managers. All three of whom have been found wanting in terms of the performance of their respective duties not having been up to the standards required at this particular period in West Indies cricket.
As President and with Grave as his CEO, Ricky Skerritt’s current CWI administrative structure includes functioning Committees characterized by over-bloated memberships. The Cricket Strategy and Team Outcomes Committee is comprised of eleven members. The West Indies team’s current ranking in each of the ICC’s three formats, as well as the overall results within the past four years, speak to the effectiveness of this committee.
The memberships of at least five of the remaining six Committees: Officiating & Venue Standards (9), Financial Strategy, Risk & Audit (10) Human Resources Development and Remunerations (8), Government Transformation & Stakeholder Relations (8) High Performance & Coaching Development (10) are all similarly, dysfunctional and over bloated. Of all those currently functioning under CWI’s Skerritt-Grave administrative umbrella, the seven-member Sports Science & Medical Advisory Committee is the only which adheres to the universally accepted management standard which indicates that a committee’s functionality in terms of its capacity to make prudent decisions and recommend effective follow-up actions is more often than not in reverse correlation to its size. The larger the committee, the lesser its likely functionality.
As the noted, well respected, longstanding, Jamaica-born, globally recognized, Caribbean cricket journalist and intended 2023 CWI Presidential candidate Ray Ford has stated, “How can these committees ever get anything done? When committees get too large, they fall into groupthink. There is no accountability, and besides agreeing to meet again, hardly anything gets done. Some of the poor CWI outcomes, suggest this!”
Restructuring its standing committees, as well as placing the right people in positions that will allow them to perform at the very best of their capabilities will have to be fundamental requirements for West Indies cricket’s fortune restoration journey. Would Desmond Haynes be of much more useful service as Head Coach than he is as the current Chairman of Selectors? That’s one of the immediate questions the new President and his administration might want to address.
The same for the structure of its Selection Panel. There are indications from some of the most recent squad choices that the current three-member Panel may have provided opportunities for two-against-one ganging up and bullying of the remaining member into agreeing to choices he might not necessarily have made of his own violation. Against that undesirable, if unsubstantiated, backdrop a five-member Panel comprised of a Chair, two Selectors, the Head Coach and the Team Captain might be a more viable option, far more capable of selecting the very best squads and teams from among the available players.
Jeffrey Dujon as Chairman of a five-member Selection Panel comprised of himself, Tony Gray, and Franklyn Stephenson as Selectors, Haynes as Head Coach, and the respective red or white ball Captain, would certainly be an option worthy of the new 2023 CWI Presidential administration’s consideration. So too would a coaching cadre comprised of Head Coach Haynes, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sir Curtly Ambrose as his respective Batting and Bowling Deputies, Roger Harper as a Fielding & Fitness Consultant with a respected expert in the art of spin bowling also engaged as part of the group.
With the correct personnel in the positions that will allow them to function most effectively, CWI’s next step, post-March 2023, should be to engage in a strategic planning process with three specific targeted short, medium and long-term outcomes. The immediate short-term objective should be to win the 2024 T20 World Cup which the West Indies will be playing at home as hosts.
In that regard, the very encouraging reality is that the West Indies already has a core of T20 players, who with the proper coaching guidance can be transformed into England-like T20 World Cup champions. Talent wise Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmeyer, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Fabian Allen, Akheal Hosein, Romario Shepherd. Alzharri Joseph and Obed McCoy are not all dissimilar from Jos Butler, Ben Stokes, or any other members of England’s 2022 T20 World Cup-winning team.
CWI’s targeted medium-term strategic goal should likewise be claiming the championship title for the 2027 ICC 50 Over World Cup. Next Year’s 2023 edition would be too soon for such an objective to have any realistic chance of success. As its stands, the West Indies may even find itself having to qualify for the tournament’s final round. There is no certainty that its 70 accumulated points will be sufficient to guarantee a place among the ICC’s top-eight teams that will qualify directly for the India-hosted World Cup’s final stages. With an experienced still relatively young team having benefitted from its 2023 participation exposure, however, the West Indies could well be a legitimate contender for ultimate World Cup honors in 2027.
Finally, in terms of its long-term strategic objective, 2028 will mark the hundredth anniversary of West Indies’ entry into Test cricket. What better way could there be to celebrate such a historic occasion than by becoming the ICC’s World Test Champions? A lofty ambition it would seem, but with five years between 2023 and 2028 in which to plan its achievement certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
Even with the very best people in the correct positions, none of the aforementioned objectives can likely be achieved by CWI alone. The coordinated and cohesive participation of almost all of West Indies cricket’s stakeholders will be required to provide much- needed input both in terms of the development of the associated strategic plans, as well as their most efficient execution. CWI’s regime should, therefore, request of Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali with the support of their fellow cricket-oriented Caribbean government leaders such as St Vincent’s Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Trinidad & Tobago’s Keith Rowley, their joint hosting of a Caricom Day celebration West Indies Cricket Meeting Of The Minds Convention in July 2023.
All current and former still living West Indies players should be invited to attend the Convention. The primary purpose of which will be the collective development of the strategic plans for the achievement of the stated two, four and five-year plans for the T20 and ODI World Cups, as well as the Test Championships title acquisitions.
West Indies cricket fans who would like to be a part of the process can be invited to put their money where their mouths are by each submitting by April 30 their top ten recommendations for the achievement of the identified strategic objectives, along with a US$20 donation to help offset the associated Convention costs. UWI students could then be subsequently engaged to categorize the submitted responses for potential review and adoption during the Convention.
The resulting outcome from the Convention must be a constructed game plan, with all participants singing from the same gospel hymnbook. Tramping in cohesion to the beat of the same steelpan drum, towards creating the necessary conditions for the phoenix of West Indies cricket to triumphantly arise from its current ashes of decay to regain its former international glory.