Tony Becca
THE WEST Indies performance on the opening day of the first Test against Australia at Brisbane was promising - so promising that as coach Bennett King has said many times, although it will take some time, it may not be long before the Windies are among the best once again.
For the West Indies to be the numbered among the best again, however, first-class cricket in the West Indies needs to be strong - very strong, and the way things are going, that will be a long, long time from now.
After admitting that one of the weaknesses of West Indies cricket is a short first-class season, after one attempt a few years ago, the board, earlier this year, decided to try again, and in doing so, announced, with great fanfare, a longer first-class season - one that would see the six teams playing return matches for a total of 10 matches per team.
Once again, however, that has lasted for one season. This season, scheduled to start on November 11 but now pushed back to November 25, will see each team once again playing each other only once for a total of five matches before the semi-finals and the final, and that is a disappointment - a big one at that.
The reason for the cut back is money, and the question is who should be blamed for what has happened.
Although the sponsors put up only approximately one third of the cost of the tournament, the answer must be the board - even though it has no money and cannot be expected to spend what it does not have.
STRAPPED FOR CASH
For the board to have given away the title of the tournament to a sponsor for a third of the cost of running the tournament is one thing. For the board, however, a board strapped for cash, to have decided to make the tournament longer without having in place the funding to do so for at least a few years is something else all together.
And to have done so, especially as the first attempt lasted only for one season because of the same reason, underlines the inability of the board to manage properly.
On top of that, the board did not notify the territories of the change in format until two weeks before the scheduled start of the tournament - after they had spent money preparing their teams, after they had made arrangements with the venues at which matches would have been played, and after they had booked hotel rooms for players and officials.
Another question is this: since the tournament will not be as long as originally planned, why not put it back to January?
In other words, why play one match in November, one in December, and the remaining three next year?
That simply does not make sense.
