Barbados: Prime Minister Has A Plan For Cricket (7 Sep 1998)

7 September 1998

Prime Minister Has A Plan For Cricket

by Bertram Niles

Prime Minister, Owen Arthur does not disguise his passion for cricket.

He wants the game to succeed in Barbados but first he says some things have to be done if its one-time glory is to be recaptured.

Arthur's overriding desire is for a return to strong organisation at all levels of the game here.

And his administration is turning to people like former West Indies opening batsmen Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge and Conrad Hunte for help.

In an interview with NationSport yesterday, the Prime Minister said that Haynes and Greenidge had been offered contracts with the Gems of Barbados project, the Government's new hospitality arm, and by the Ministry of Education to work in schools.

Arthur confirmed that he was having discussions with Hunte on a developmental role for him which transcended cricket.

"He has done a fantastic job for the South Africans," he said, referring to Hunte's work among underprivileged youth in the now black-ruled republic. "He has a part to play in the development of Barbados."

But the Prime Minister's greatest beef about the game is the shortage of strong organisation and disciplined leadership.

"These explain the success of all professional sports," he said. Arthur said that cricket clubs no longer provided the lead in this direction, neither was it reflected within the schools. "Clubs have to examine themselves."

He recalled the days of stalwarts like Herman Griffith at Empire, Joey Armstrong at Wanderers and Mitchie Hewitt at the BCL.

"Then there was strong and respected leadership and a sense of professionalism, although they were not paid," was how he summed up their contribution which ranged from the dispensing of discipline and organising of practice sessions to the scouting of talent.

Arthur said Jamaica's success in athletics was due to its level of organisation within the schools system. He cited the case of Herb McKinley, the 1948 Olympic gold medallist, who was still attached to Calabar School in his native country.

He was not willing to buy the argument that a lackadaisical approach among the youth or their love for basketball was responsible for the decline of cricket.

"The key to successful sports development is organisation," was the Prime Minister's constant refrain during the interview.

In fact, he saw organisation as more critical to the future of cricket than the building of academies.

In his book, this would be reflected in a structure that mandated regular practice

at school and club level that would allow top coaches to iron out basic defects before players got to the highest level.

In Arthur's day, cricket was the king of sports in schools and the Prime Minister waxed nostalgically about the influence of the games master at Coleridge and Parry back then.

Back to the present, he had reservations about the structure for cricket beyond the Under-15 level.

He praised the "well-organised, high profile" nature of the Cable and Wireless BET tournament and said he had followed the final last week with great interest.

Arthur spoke of the importance of the "psychology of winning and stardom" reflected in the television and other coverage of the event. So keen is his interest in post Under-15s, that the Prime Minister said he had offered the Barbados Cricket Association a Prime Minister's Trophy to be competed for at the higher age group.

"We have to restore the psychology of winning to schoolboy cricket," he said. "They must feel that they can win."

Arthur supports the retention of the two school sides in BCA Division One cricket, "but only in a context that they will not feel that they will lose every time".

He wanted all involved in cricket to treat it as an enduring part of our heritage and culture.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)