The performance of the West Indies cricket team and the structure of the board

This is a big question that should be asked by persons who have West Indies Cricket at heart. I am just one among the thousands who are utterly disappointed at the disastrous showing of the West Indies team in the recently concluded Test match against Australia at Windsor Park. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of West Indies cricket over the years would agree that if we are to change the fortunes of our cricket we should look at the entire structure from top to bottom. In doing so the administration should be looked at critically. From the top you have the president, Dave Cameron; vice president, Emanuel Nanthan; as to whether or not Cameron has played any first class cricket, I do not know. But there is a possibility that he may have played, but I have never heard his name mentioned as an active cricketer.

About his vice president, Emanuel Nanthan, president of the Windward Islands Cricket Board, I know for a fact that he never played first class cricket and is merely a club cricketer.

Looking back at when West Indies were on top and the makeup of the West Indies Board at that time, there were the likes of Jeff Stollmeyer, Allan Rae, Gerry Gomez, all test cricketers of note. Compare this to the current board that includes Dave Cameron and Emanuel Nanthan. The names of other members of the board are unknown to me. So why should anyone blame the present West Indies team for such poor performance? I suspect that that performance is going to continue because the board is not strong enough to step in and stamp its authority on matters of selection of teams and several other issues affecting West Indies cricket.

I hope that Ossie Lewis's Thursday night sports programme that is co-hosted by three eminent sports personalities in Ossie Lewis, Lockhart Sebastien and Emanuel Loblack can touch on this issue. Cricket Fan