West Indies legend Clive Lloyd has pointed to a continued lack of inclusion of former players at the board level of regional cricket as being a significant hindrance to improving the fortunes of the struggling team.
Though typically the realm of lifelong administrators and businessmen, the cricket boards of the sport’s big three, England, India, and Australia have included former players at the top level of the game’s governance. Currently, India is the best example with former captain Sourav Ganguly serving as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, on a body that also included Brijesh Patel. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently added former captain Andrew Strauss as a non-voting member but also includes women’s player Lucy Pearson. For Cricket Australia, Michael Kasprowicz resigned from the board earlier this year but two-time women’s World Cup winner Mel Jones remains a member of the board.
“The board should have four ex-cricketers. Knowledgeable, intelligent people who want to take our cricket forward,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“When I was at Lancashire on the committee, we had 16 or 17 people on the committee, but we had to have six cricketers, that was enshrined in the constitution because it’s a cricket club. That’s why cricket is taken care of in England. All the clubs have the same situation.”
“We do not have a Test cricketer of note on our board. If you look at all the other boards, Australia have had four captains on their board. India have had some of their ex-players on their board. England, who they have coaching the team, and the ECB have their ex-cricketers…cricketers are involved in the development of the game. (In the West Indies) If you decide to be a part of the board and you are somebody of some standing, they don’t seem to want you because they believe you will overshadow them.”
The current Cricket West Indies (CWI) body does have Michael Findlay, who played Test cricket for the West Indies between 1969 to 1973 along with Julian Charles and Enoch Lewis who played cricket at the regional level.