NEW FRANCHISE SYSTEM SHOULD HELP WEST INDIES CRICKET

It is a sign of how poor the West Indies Cricket Board has been that after seeing how the rest of the cricket world had progressed, caught and surpassed us, they were still persisting with the system that had not only become badly broken but also ridiculously obsolete. The last great West Indies team of the 1970s and ’80s came together as a result of several situations converging at the right place and the right time.

Cricket was played more often, kids were passionate about the sport, the region was blessed with an abundance of outstanding talent, and Clive Lloyd came along. Kerry Packer came along too and taught our talented players what it was to be a professional sportsman. Everything conspired to forge what is perhaps the most dominant Test team in history.

As those players aged and their talents waned, a trickle of talent made their way into the team. Among them was the otherworldly talent of Brian Lara, who played in the last remaining remnants of that great team. The fact that as great as Lara was he played on a team that lost more than it won was an indicator as to how long now the system of producing players had been broken.

Coach after coach came and went and nothing changed. Recommendations were made but no one listened, a consequence of the deep-rooted insularity that has held the Caribbean community back for as long as one can remember. It still continues to do so.

Enter Richard Pybus. Pybus, who has worked with Pakistan and Bangladesh, was hired by WICB CEO Michael Muirhead and began working on November 1, 2013. He has since  introduced the West Indies to the best practices used by other countries across the globe to hone and develop talent.

Under the new system being rolled out by the WICB and supported by the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), each territory will become a franchise. Each of these franchises will select 10 players who will be paid a retainer and who will earn increased match fees from an extended first class season. By the way, players who are on the fringe will be placed into a pool and each franchise will be able to select players from that pool to make up their full squad complement.

It is estimated that each player will earn anywhere between US$20,000-US$30,000 a year, meaning that they will be paid a decent wage to play cricket. They will have no other focus, no other distraction. Cricket will be what they do for a living. No more going to work in the days and knocking a few balls in the evenings after work. No more going to work and bowling a few overs a day once work is done. Under the new regime, each franchise will have its coaches for the respective disciplines and support staff which it is hoped will help each player achieve the maximum potential from his talents.

That talent will eventually make its way into the West Indies team and transform it into a world force like we managed to create by chance four decades ago.

The only part of this that I haven’t yet figured out is whether the franchises will be hiring coaches from abroad while the ones here are brought up to par because for the West Indies to properly develop the talent available, that process must start at the grassroots level. That is where the kids will be taught the correct mechanics of the sport and where they will begin the process of the pursuit of mastery.

We have already seen the impact quality coaches from abroad have made on regional players through the Caribbean Premier League; that and the fact that the players get to rub shoulders with quality players from the better cricket playing nations of the world. Our best T20 players are being recognized and selected for the various leagues across the world and are not just playing, they are making significant contributions.

There must also be properly trained coaches at the high school level to continue the process of development. Former West Indies and Jamaica captain Jimmy Adams, who was also national coach lamented what he said was the absence of decent coaches at the high school level. At the time he said that, just a few years ago, he argued that it makes little sense to have kids come into the senior programme with extremely flawed techniques that the senior coaches will have to work on correcting even as opposing bowlers exploited the attendant weaknesses.

It will take time to get all the elements right, but I believe we are finally on the right track to turning our fortunes around. That eternally long corner that the West Indies has been on for the last 15 years will eventually be cleared but a lot depends on how well this new master plan is executed.