Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE WEST Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is scheduled to meet in St. Maarten this weekend, the main item on the agenda will be the election of a president.
Barring something surprising, Ken Gordon, the only nominee who was seconded and thus the only one of the starting five left in the race, will be confirmed as the new president.
There will be another item on the agenda, however: The election of the vice president. And although in the past it has never attracted much interest, this time around it should be interesting, not only because there are two people contesting the position, not only because there will be a vote to decide the winner, but also because of the two people in the contest, who will be the new president, and the state of West Indies cricket.
One of the vice-presidential candidates is incumbent Val Banks, the other is Clive Lloyd. One is a banker, the other was an outstanding Test cricketer and the question is: Who should it be?
Given the present state of West Indies cricket and the fact that the new president will be one without a cricket background, it would certainly be good if a cricketer, if one like Lloyd, who remains one of the most successful captains of all time, occupies the number two spot on the board.
In such a position, a cricketer - one who should know what it takes to produce outstanding players, one who knows what it takes to become a successful and outstanding player, and one who has been to the war - would be ideally placed to influence the board in matters dealing with the game, especially when it comes to the development of outstanding players and the relationship between the board and the players.
WHO IS THE BETTER BET?
Although there are those who believe that for continuity the new president should have as his deputy one like Banks who has served as deputy, that is not too important, that is not a necessity. Particularly at this time, with cricket being the business of the board and with West Indies cricket in such a poor state, a cricketer, a Lloyd, would be a better bet than a Banks.
There is, however, one reason why Lloyd should not even have been considered for the position as vice-president.
Apart from the fact that, for whatever reason, his record as a West Indies coach and a West Indies manager does not match his record as West Indies captain, Lloyd does not reside in the West Indies and, unless he plans to do so if he is elected, unless he has told the board that he will do so if elected, he should not even have decided to contest the position.
Lloyd has often said that he sees nothing wrong with living in England and serving as a West Indies selector and in saying that, he has always reminded that he was living in England while representing the West Indies and while serving as manager and then as coach.
Playing on the team, coaching the team and managing the West Indies team while living outside of the West Indies is, however, different from selecting the team or administering the game while living outside of the West Indies.
In order to do a good job, a selector, an administrator, needs to be on spot, not once a month, not twice a month, but almost every day. Apart from attending meetings, he needs to do some work.
IS LLOYD ELIGIBLE?
On top of that, unless it is the intention to change the rules, Lloyd is not eligible to be the vice-president of the board.
One of the rules of the board is that no one can be a member of the board or be a selector unless he resides in the West Indies and for those who do not remember, that is why, a few years ago, Julian Hunte vice-president to then president Peter Short and vice president to then president Pat Rousseau was forced to resign as a board member when he left St. Lucia to reside in New York.
Should it be Banks or should it be Lloyd? That is the problem facing members of the board as they prepare to vote today.
Under normal circumstances, it would be a no contest in favour of Lloyd. All things considered, however, including the rules of the board, it should, unfortunately, be Banks.
Lloyd or no Lloyd, vice-president or not, West Indies cricket needs its past great cricketers - no question about that and every effort should be made to get them involved.
Right now, however, the way to get them involved is through the Cricket Committee, providing the board is prepared to resurrect it, look at its members, replace some of them, and then listen to them.
According to members of the once-vibrant Cricket Committee, the board's executive committee no longer listens to them. Because of that they are frustrated, and because of that they have basically folded their arms - to the extent that the last meeting of the Cricket Committee of the WICB was way back in September last year.
