Cricket West Indies President, Dr. Kishore Shallow announced recently that the regional franchise system will be revamped to better serve it’s objectives. This announcement was made during the feature address at the Queen’s Park Cricket Club’s Annual Awards ceremony in Trinidad.
“There is a delegation in Trinidad and Tobago as we speak assessing the franchise system, and the plan is for them to go across the entire region and review, advise, make recommendations to the board about how we can improve,” Shallow said.
CWI Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe leads the delegation which includes, Chairman of Cricket Committee, Enoch Lewis; CWI High Performance Manager, Graeme West; and CWI Coaching Manager, Chris Brabazon.
He noted that US$400,000 were being spent monthly on the system and said that CWI needs to get value for money. “Massive investment, so we must ensure that we get return on that investment, so there is a very important exercise taking place,” Shallow said.
Under the system, each franchise, Red Force, Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Barbados Pride, Guyana Jaguars, Jamaica Scorpions and Windward Islands Volcanoes retains 15 players who are paid monthly to work with the team’s respective head coach and staff.
Shallow said changes are also being made at the CWI board level,”none more important than the shift in culture.” He added, “It is a number one priority of mine…that we establish an environment that encourages excellence and accountability. It is imperative that we hold each other accountable.”
He said mediocrity will not be accepted or celebrated and the CWI, under his leadership, will continue to be more transparent.
“For the West Indies to continue to be a global brand and for us to have the desired results, it takes shared responsibility and common efforts from all stakeholders – barring absolutely none,” Shallow said.
He also said that significant progress is being made in women’s cricket and applauded the local officials in Trinidad and Tobago for their efforts.
