West Indies cricket lacks vision' (5 July 1999)
Sir Conrad Hunte says cricket in Barbados and the West Indies is in crisis and that's why he wants to play a part in its administration
05-Jul-1999
5 July 1999
West Indies cricket `lacks vision'
Tony Best
Sir Conrad Hunte says cricket in Barbados and the West Indies is
in crisis and that's why he wants to play a part in its
administration.
He is expected to announce this week that he will seek a top
position in the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA).
Sir Conrad received a standing ovation at the end of a rousing
speech at the annual convention of the National Association of
Barbadian Organisations in Hollywood City, Florida.
However, he stopped short of publicly announcing his candidacy
for the BCA presidency, but indicated after the meeting that an
announcement would be made this week in Barbados.
"Barbados and West Indies cricket is in crisis because of a lack
of thought and a lack of foresight," he said.
"In the past seven years when countries like Australia were
beginning to adopt the new scientific and technological approach
to the game, we in Barbados and the West Indies kept on with our
outmoded and oldfashioned concept that talent alone would do it.
They said to themselves that we didn't use that sort of stuff
when we got to the top and stayed for 20 years, why do we need it
now? As a consequence, we are trying to play catch-up."
He blamed a combination of factors for the "demise" of cricket in
Barbados and the West Indies. For example, he cited:
- A lack of vision in both Barbados and West Indies cricket.
"I saw some things as an understudy to Sir Frank Worrell and as a
student of history that give me an insight into what can be done
and what must be done," Sir Conrad said.
He paid tribute to Sir Frank, the late West Indies captain, for
taking a "collection of brilliant individuals and transformeing
us into a dynamic unit whose synergy was greater than the sum
total of our individual talents," he went on.
Sir Conrad said that Sir Frank's influence was felt during the
tenures of Sir Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd and Sir Vivian
Richards.
"The technical flaws are one thing," added Sir Conrad. "Lack of
using scientificandtechnological approaches is another thing.
But the single most important contribution, I think, to the
demise of cricket in Barbados and the West Indies is a lack of
vision."
He credited Sir Frank with establishing a link between cricket
and the psyche of West Indians, promoting unity among the various
islands, and helping to raise cricketers from being players to
ambassadors of the region and of the game as a whole.
"So out of that and as a student of history and as an understudy
of Frank Worrell, I know what it will take, and that is why I
want to throw my own services in the arena back in Barbados in
order to have a chance to do just that," he said.
Source :: The Barbados Nation