West Indies Cricket Board president Ken Gordon. - FILE PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
A long-awaited cricket academy in the West Indies will become a reality, the outgoing West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon has announced.
Speaking at a news conference at the Hilton, Trinidad, Saturday, as he ends his two-year tenure as the WICB president, Gordon declared that the structure has been organised for a regional academy, to be funded by a US$6 million Caribbean Lottery.
"Now finally it is going to happen," Gordon said.
He said the academy will operate on the basis of a "hub, with a minimum of six spokes".
"The hub will be in Barbados and it is proposed that the spokes be in Jamaica, Leewards, Windwards, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana," Gordon said.
He emphasised that a cricket academy has been shown to be a vital tool in developing players for the demands of international cricket and is critically needed in the Caribbean.
"Over the past two decades, all the major cricketing nations of the world other than the West Indies, have established cricket academies.
"That is where they work on developing the whole cricketer, the player, his mind and the man. The type of development we have been talking about for 22 years, according to Clive Lloyd. It is long overdue.
"We have to broaden the horizons of our players and lift them above learning on the job," Gordon said.
Announcing that he is leaving the WICB on stable financial ground, Gordon said major facilities throughout the region- at the hub in Barbados and the other earmarked territories - will be utilised for the academy's work.
"The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the WICB have already signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) which makes the facilities of the 3Ws Ground in Barbados available to the WICB for this purpose.
"Similar assurances have been given by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda for the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, and the Trinidad and Tobago government has done likewise for the Brian Lara Stadium," Gordon said.
SPONSORING BARBADOS
The former media magnate also said the WICB is currently finalising details of a Caribbean company sponsoring the Barbados hub of the academy for the first five years.
"This is likely to be confirmed in a matter of days. We also hope to be in the position to shortly announce the sponsors of the 'spokes' in the other five countries. The academy will not only train and develop, it will give cricket a home," he said.
Gordon said the lottery project, sanctioned by the governments, Trinidad and Tobago apart, should ensure the "ongoing viability of the academy".
"The governments of CARICOM have collectively made a commitment to assist in its financing. They have agreed to make a percentage of the funds from a Caribbean Lottery available for this purpose.
"The T&T government, which will not be participating in the lottery for policy reasons, has made a commitment to provide an annual sum via a trust fund or otherwise, equivalent to what would have been earned had they participated," he said.
"Caribbean people will have the long-awaited opportunity to demonstrate their support for cricket by participating in the lottery. We expect that response to be loud and very tangible," he said.
"The sum expected from the lottery is US$6 million and the start-up date to which CARICOM governments are committed is October 1, 2007," Gordon said.
St. Lucian Julian Hunte takes over this weekend as new president of the WICB.
