Caribbean’s cricket ecosystem needs attention – President Ali

…as Caricom Cricket Conference opens

Cricket’s ecosystem in the Caribbean needs attention and possibly revising; this was the position taken by Guyanese President Dr Irfaan Ali as cricketing stakeholders from across the Region, inclusive of several Caribbean Community (Caricom) dignitaries, converged on the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday morning for the commencement of the Regional Conference on West Indies Cricket.
The Conference will see various discussions on the sport being conducted over two days, under the theme, “Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket – A Symposium for Strategic Collaboration and Innovation”.
During Thursday’s opening ceremony, Cricket West Indies (CWI) President, Dr Kishore Shallow, in underscoring the importance of such an event, spoke on the impact of West Indian cricket across the world, while expressing his vision for the Conference.

“West Indies cricket, no doubt, remains one of the most iconic brands in sports. Jacques Kallis – it was just after we got knocked out of the World Cup and missed the opportunity, for the first time, to qualify – Kallis stood on stage and said I cannot imagine West Indies not at the World Cup, a World Cup without West Indies is like going to the beach without sand. Two gentlemen, I recall, said that it brought tears to their eyes. One was from Zimbabwe ad he said he felt it more when West Indies got knocked out of the World Cup, than when Zimbabwe exited,” Shallow recalled.
The CWI President went on to add, “Now people, I say this to remind you of the passion that is out there for cricket and what West Indies cricket means to persons beyond the Caribbean.”
“I am optimistic that the exchanges will be rich in substance and that at the end of this symposium, there will be an alignment of the minds and we can further build on the legacy of West Indies cricket,” Dr Shallow further opined.
While President Ali could not be there in person, the Guyanese Head of State in his livestream address urged a reassessment of the cricket ecosystem in the Caribbean, while highlighting some key areas of focus, such as common legislation.
“Cricket is not only played on the field in this region, cricket is played in the hearts of our people, it is played to encourage positive living and we have to look at the entire cricketing ecosystem, if we are to address the issues of cricket in the Region. Cricket is linked directly to our economies, linked to our tourism product and we have to honestly analyse whether we have redesigned our brand, to incorporate all the factors that cricket is linked to in this region,” President Ali stated.
The Head of State expounded, “I believe that the entire ecosystem of cricket; we have to address the different aspects of the problems we face, the loss of ownership, lack of talent, lack of responsibility and reduced fan base. These are the things that are real and it requires institutional rearrangement, governance rearrangement and we have to look at whether we need a common legislation across the board in all the countries for the way in which we look at cricket and cricket is governed.”
Aside from stakeholders, several legends of the game, including famous Guyanese Captain Sir Clive Lloyd, also made the trip to Trinidad for the Conference.