WESTERN BUREAU:
CRICKET TOOK the spotlight at the sixth CARICOM/Canada Summit yesterday with the sub-committee on the regional sport meeting for more than three hours.
Sub-Committee chairman, Prime Minister Lester Bird of Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada were among the participants who received a report on the CARICOM/University of the West Indies (UWI) Cricket Conference held in Barbados earlier this year. Top representatives of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) also attended yesterday's session.
Sub-committee chairman Dr. Edward Greene said the meeting discussed recommendations arising from the report and laid broad plans for action. The areas covered included the performance of players and allowing players access to higher education while playing.
The 2007 World Cup was a primary item on the agenda.
"The World Cup and its spin-offs, economic and otherwise, are invaluable to West Indies cricket," Dr. Greene said.
"There was also a presentation on the proposed lottery to fund West Indies cricket. We will have to figure out how to reconcile a lottery for sports with certain guidelines," he said.
While Dr. Greene said the objective was to get cricket more popular and there was a need to get the game organised at all levels, especially the primary stage, Prime Minister Mitchell was adamant that ex-cricketers had to be taken care of. "Historically we have not done very well in planning for our players after cricket. Unless we can show young people that we take care of our players, it will be hard to attract young players," he said.
