Merger Not The Best Move

There has been more talk about a merger between the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) and the Barbados Cricket League (BCL).

In most cases, those calling for the bonding of the two separate bodies do so more on the grounds that the BCL seems to be losing its way. So its rescue depends on help from the BCA.

This perspective is not fundamental enough to call for the two to be together.

The BCL was formed in 1937 by the late Mitchie Hewitt to provide a platform for players from the various villages and communities across the island.

The social climate at the time, I suspect, would not have provided many opportunities for people from a working-class background to play the game in an organised manner.

Philosophy: Thus the philosophy of the league was to open doors of opportunity to some of the less privileged in the society.

We all know what kind of contribution the BCL has made to Barbados and West Indies cricket.

Legends like Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Conrad Hunte, Seymour Nurse and Charlie Griffith came through the ranks of the league.

In other words the BCL is an institution which has its own identity, one which I believe should be preserved on its own.

While we might agree that the social landscape has changed since Hewitt's initial vision, and more players from the community now qualify to play for the BCA teams, it might simply mean that the BCL might need to readjust its programmes.

It may also mean the BCL should reposition itself to counter some of the changes that have come about.

I don't think we need an amalgamation to achieve such.

What is pertinent at this time,and was suggested by management consultant Wendell Kellman when he addressed the league's recent awards ceremony, is that an approach should be made to the Ministry of Sports for technical assistance to have a strategic study of the BCL carried out.

If this doesn't work, maybe the league should seek its own sponsorship to have this study done.

Whatever form it takes, it is definite that something like this must be done so all interested parties would have some idea of what it would take in a sense to modernise the Hewitt vision rather than make the BCL a thing of the past.

Re-education: What I think might be necessary is for the current BCL administrators to have re-education programmes for the benefit of the younger players in particular who may not have any real knowledge of the origins.

Take away the history of the league and the result may be our youth may not be inspired enough to keep the flame burning.

We must continue to see the need for upholding the positive symbols so that present and coming generations will know they have a responsibility to preserve and build on what their forerunners have established.

The BCL, I submit, can still be a mirror image, for those who administer the game of cricket and for those who play it.

What it might need at this stage is a look in the mirror, critical self-analysis and the necessary change so that it may regain its former glory.

And, I repeat, it doesn't take any amalgamation for that.