Jordan and the Caribbean connection

Michael 'AIR' Jordan may be coming to Barbados.

It's not a done deal but Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments appear to be looking toward the American basketball great for inspiration as they seek to restore West Indies to the top of world cricket.

Jordan has been approached to participate in a CARICOM-sponsored regional cricket conference in Barbados June 1-2.

Dr. Edward Green, who is the assistant secretary-general for human and social development at the CARICOM Secretariat, told a region-wide radio audience that the organisers of the cricket conference hoped to hear sometime this week whether Jordan was available.

'The reason for bringing someone like Michael Jordan is to help us think through how sportsmen in the 21st century utilise not only skills but also technology to gain the excellence which we hope the West Indies team could achieve,' Greene told CANAradio on Sunday.

'One has to think of cricket more as a business and that's why Jordan's presence might be helpful as well.'

CARICOM is certainly seeking out one of the elite sportsmen of the 20th century. But it is ironic that Jordan is the target at a time when there are fears that NBA basketball from the United States is drawing youngsters away from cricket.

Jordan has moved from being the NBA's best on-court to the part-owner's chair with the Washington Wizards and may have a perspective from both sides on what drives success at the top.

It's a subject on which he used to have running arguments with the owners of the Chicago Bulls, whom he led to six NBA championships. As a player, Jordan passionately believed the players were the key; the owners insisted it was organisation. The truth may be somewhere in the middle. Shades of that debate are ringing through Alloy Lequay's challenge to Patrick Rousseau for the presidency of the West Indies Cricket Board .