The need to start afresh

Amid the quarrels and hard positions adopted by the parties directly involved in the current dispute in West Indian cricket, there has been the growing voice of a party indirectly connected to the details, but central nonetheless. It is the voice of the supporters of the game in the Caribbean.

In expressing its concern, that voice has spoken in many dialects and has offered several solutions - as contradictory as is its tradition. But it is growing louder and more desperate in its tenor as the Test series against South Africa draws nigh with no satisfactory resolution on the table.

The parties directly involved in the farcical negotiations - the West Indies Cricket Board, the West Indies Players' Association, the feuding telecommunications sponsors: Digicel and Cable & Wireless - have all clearly been serving the interests most important to them from wherever they sit. It was hardly possible to expect more. But while it is easy to become too caught up in the various press releases from professional spinners, it is time to step back and listen to what resonates within the cacophony of the public voice. Simply put, it is concern for West Indies cricket - the concern about its life or its quality of life, and the dread at the possibility of its near death.

Much time has already been spent debating the rights of the parties involved. Much energy has been expended on pointing out which one occupies the highest rung on the ladder of blame. It is time to come home to face the core issues surrounding the problems in West Indies cricket, because even when this specific crisis finds abatement, the roots of the problem will not have been addressed, and the monsters will keep rearing their heads.

Five years ago, the University of the West Indies organised what was called the Caricom/UWI Stakeholder's Cricket Conference at its Cave Hill Campus. The conference gathered 200 recommendations for saving West Indies cricket and agreed to submit them, along with 17 resolutions, to the next meeting of the Caricom Heads of Government. It is difficult to say whether the resolutions or recommendations reached any further than the meeting of the heads, but little evidence has emerged to suggest that they have. One of the resolutions, for example, was "that partnership and inclusion of all stakeholders be the basis of all management principles and decision-making", and another "that the composition of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) reflects effective partnership and inclusion of all stakeholders." The conference provided a platform for many of the normally silent stakeholders to speak about cricket's welfare, and it facilitated such a wide range of perspectives that the material it gathered can still provide useful information for a long-term solution to the problem.

Unless the core problems are not identified and discussed West Indies cricket will continue to get waylaid by repeated crises. Recognising that times have changed so rapidly in modern sport, the people at the core of the game ought to come together to examine their relationships with each other and discuss what they see as the major problems affecting them. Thus, the West Indies board and the players (not merely their association, as is now the case) should come together and discuss freely and in good faith what ails the sport. Given the facilities that have developed at the the Cave Hill Campus since the Conference of 2000, that would be a good place for such a discussion to begin. The material from the preceding discussion should be made available, and there should be a commitment from the outset that whatever emerges from the talks would be absorbed and refined for implementation. None of the other groups need to be part of this initial discussion, as it should remain focussed on the maladies of West Indies cricket.

Given the calamities that could still befall the game if things are not carefully managed, it is not too ambitious a proposal. Caricom was part of the process in 2000, it has been part of the discussions now; it should take the lead and allow the individual voices of the players to be heard and allow the board to have its say - without the sponsors blowing down their necks.

It would be the first step towards reconstructing the tattered relationship between the board and players - so vital to the process of rebuilding. The time for dictatorships and payment without performance has passed. A new alliance must be formed between these two links in the chain. It doesn't have to be a life of confrontation and conflict. Even if they accept that there will be differences, if there is trust between the parties, nothing would escalate to such a dizzying state that while they busy themselves sorting out internal muddles, they mistake the sharks outside for a prize catch.