PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Cricket West Indies chief executive officer Johnny Grave said the timing of a proposed Caricom conference on the sport next month in Trinidad could not have been better.
Grave said CWI was set to discuss its new four-year strategic plan at the end of this month, and this may very well form the basis of its presentation at the Caricom conference, which Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley will host on April 19 in Port of Spain.
“We have been speaking to our regional governments a lot and to Prime Minister Rowley a lot about cricket and a way forward, and it’s a further sign of the improved relations with the governments,” Grave said during a radio interview on i95 FM.
“We rely on them heavily for facilities, specifically the national stadiums, our schools’ programs, etc. Governments are key stakeholders for cricket in the Caribbean, and we welcome any dialogue and discussion with them.”
Rowley, the chairman of the prime ministerial subcommittee on cricket, said during the 46th Caricom heads of government meeting last week in Georgetown that he was proposing to stage the meeting to explore the sport’s business trajectory in the Caribbean.
“We welcome Dr Rowley’s initiative to get the subcommittee to meet with other stakeholders, including CWI, to discuss the future of cricket in the West Indies, and the timing could not be better,” Grave added.
“We are going to take to our board and the annual general meeting (of our members) our new four-year strategic plan, and hopefully, we can take that to the regional governments to get their feedback and how we can get them to partner to improve cricket at all levels throughout the Caribbean.”
The heads of government received an update from CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow during their meeting on preparations for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, which will be staged jointly in the Caribbean and the United States.
At the same time, the heads used the opportunity to underscore to Shallow the unique character of West Indies cricket and the importance of a strategic review as a game and business towards ensuring the growth and sustainability of the sport in the Caribbean.
Grave said the meeting with Caricom leaders was “positive.” Both sides were looking forward to building on the cordial relations they had built over the past few years.
“More dialogue can only improve the partnerships, which are very strong at the moment, and hopefully, this coming World Cup will be a testimony to that because we could not have been hosting it without the support of the governments,” he said.
Grave said the main areas of development that will be highlighted in the new strategic plan would be the improvement of practice facilities at international match venues around the Caribbean and the establishment of a high-performance system featuring satellite centers of excellence that will feed emerging talent into the CWI Academy.
He said these will be the major areas in which CWI hopes to gain government cooperation to help them develop.
“The Caricom leaders have huge support for cricket, and hopefully, this will be the start of a positive dialogue with all the Caricom leaders about how we can ensure that cricket thrives at all levels in the Caribbean and remains a massive part of the region’s culture and history,” he said.
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