WIPA approves 15-point plan to boost cricket in region
The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) approved a 15-point plan for the development of cricket in the region, and appointed Larry Romany as their chief operations officer
Cricinfo staff
10-Dec-2009
The West Indies Players' Association has approved a comprehensive plan for the development of West Indies cricket • The Nation
Larry Romany, the current President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, has been appointed chief operations officer of the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA). The decision was taken at a board meeting on Wednesday, where a 15-point plan for boosting the development of West Indies cricket was also approved.
The WIPA approved a team of professionally qualified experts to look at the developmental aspect of the game in the region, and authorized it to audit the structures and programmes currently in place and make recommendations for improvement if need be. The first-class season, it suggested, should consist of two rounds of matches with a minimum of 12 four-day games each season played alongside international series.
It recommended the yearly schedule be agreed well in advance for players to be aware of their commitments, and singled out as its immediate priority the appointment of a Director of Cricket to handle all cricketing matters. The WIPA also termed the establishment of a Cricket Academy and its satellite centres as a matter of "extreme urgency", and proposed the allotment of a fitness manager and a physiotherapist, in addition to a coach and manager, for teams at all levels of the game - from schoolboy to Test cricket.
WIPA also called for an improvement in facilities at the first-class level, suggesting that matches at practice sessions be held at international venues or those of an equivalent standard. In an attempt to make the first-class game mirror international cricket, it also proposed adequate preparation for regional as well as national teams ahead of their matches, and the use of the same cricket balls at both levels.
The WIPA and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) were involved in a bitter dispute surrounding player contracts in July, when senior players, including Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, boycotted the Test series against Bangladesh, leading to a second-string team - which lost the series - being picked. However, the two sides reached a truce in October, enabling the selection of a full-strength squad for the ongoing tour of Australia.