Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE WEST Indies Cricket Board is not the most loved sporting body in the region.
To almost every fan, it is the Board and not so much the selectors, the managers, the coaches, the captains and the players, that is responsible for the present state of West Indies cricket.
According to the fans, the Board lacks ideas on how to improve the quality of West Indies cricket, and for many reasons that appears to be true.
The fact, however, is not that the Board is bereft of ideas. The problem, up to a few weeks ago, was that a number of their ideas, certainly those dealing with domestic competitions, were bad ideas, and instead of making things better, made them worse.
In its effort to improve the standard of West Indies cricket and thus the quality of the West Indies team, the Board, a few years ago, changed the format of the domestic competitions and in the process made them weaker instead of stronger.
QUALITY BETTER
Unlike the days when the regional competitions the four-day first-class tournament and the One-Day tournament were limited to the six territorial teams, the days when the regional competitions were among the best in the world, the days when West Indies cricket was strong and the West Indies team was among the best and then was the best, the Board, ignoring the fact that quality is better than quantity, that strong competitions produce strong teams and weak competitions produce weak teams, that strong teams make a strong competition and that weak teams make a weak competition, watered down both competitions and is still paying for that mistake.
DESTROYED BOTH COMPETITIONS
Instead of Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands battling it out for the honours in both competitions, the Board introduced other teams, split the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands, and ended up destroying both competitions.
In the four-day competition, the Board introduced a West Indies "B" team, in different years, an 'A' team from England, India and Bangladesh, and in one year, the Kenya team none of which showed any interest in the competition, only one of which made an impact.
In the One-Day competition, the Leeward Islands became the Leewards and Antigua, the Windward Islands became North Windwards and South Windwards, and from time to time there were teams like the USA, Canada, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Universities in action.
Right now, however, the Board members deserve a pat on the back.
A week or so ago came the news that the four-day competition will now be contested by the six affiliates of the Board - Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands, and a few days ago, the Board announced that it will be the same thing for the One-Day tournament.
In other words, there will be no "B" team and no "A" team in the four-day contest, as it was last year, there will be no Antigua, no North Windwards, no South Windwards in the One-Day tournament.
Due to that, the good, young players in the "B" team will now have to fight to get into their territory's team, the good, young players from the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands will have to fight to get into those two teams, and that will be good for West Indies cricket for the simple reason that the challenge to improve their skills, to perform in order to play, will make them better players.
NEW FORMAT
According to Roger Braithwaite, chief executive officer of the WICB, the new limited-over format will allow the competition to be contested by the strongest possible teams and hopefully will ensure more competitive cricket of a higher standard.
The pity is that so many years were wasted trying to force-ripe young players and exposing others with little or no talent - and all that at the expense of providing a good atmosphere, two strong competitions, for the development of those with the talent to go on and represent the West Indies.
