CARICOM conference comes at perfect time – CWI CEO

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

CRICKET WEST Indies chief executive officer, Johnny Grave, says the timing of a proposed CARICOM conference on the sport next month in Trinidad could not have been more perfect.

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 is to be hosted by Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley 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’ programmes, and so on, so governments are a key stakeholder 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 business trajectory for the sport in the Caribbean.

“This initiative by Dr Rowley of getting the subcommittee to get together with other stakeholders, including CWI, to discuss the future of cricket in the West Indies, we welcome it, and the timing could not be better,” Grave added.

FOUR-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN

“We are going to take to our board and to 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 to 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 both as a game and business towards ensuring growth and sustainability of the sport in the Caribbean.

Grave said the meeting with Caricom leaders was “positive” and both sides were looking forward to building on the cordial relations that they have 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 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 would 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 that features satellite centres of excellence that would feed emerging talent into the CWI Academy.

He said these would be the major areas for which CWI would be hoping to get cooperation from the governments to help them develop.

“There is huge support from the CARICOM leaders in terms of their love and passion for cricket, so hopefully, this will be the start of really 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 culture and history of the region,” he said.