Cricinfo criticise West Indies cricket - CMC

Martin Williamson, the executive editor of Cricinfo, the leading website dedicated to the sport of cricket, believes Tony Cozier’s attack on the way that the sport’s world governing body funds the Intercontinental Cup, the first-class competition for the Associates, is misplaced.
 
 In his weekly syndicated column in the Caribbean, Cozier, the leading West Indies cricket correspondent for more than four decades, concluded that rather than waste money on tournaments for Associate nations, the ICC should spend some of its profits on aiding West Indies which he described as a "well-established member with a great tradition presently fallen on hard times".
 
 Williamson concluded that to argue that the woes of the West Indies could be cured by diverting cash from Associates to the Caribbean was not dealing in reality.
 
 “Those who have witnessed the antics of a succession of West Indies boards might counter that to pour money into the region would be akin to chucking it onto a bonfire,” he said.
 
 “In the last decade, the WICB has run up debts running into tens of millions of dollars. It has failed to handle sponsors, or players remotely adequately, and needed the income from a (poorly run) World Cup to bail it out.
 
 “That the game in the Caribbean is in need of help is beyond question. But it is in even more need of some broad-minded and competent leadership. Julian Hunte, the new WICB chairman, might be such a man but he has a daunting job ahead of him. “
 
 Williamson admits that the ICC competitions for Associate nations have their faults and mismatches, but he argued the same could be said for any competition or series involving the Full Members.
 
 “When was the last time Bangladesh or Zimbabwe or, dare it be said, West Indies played in a gripping contest as opposed to occasional one-off successes," he said.
 
 “As seen at the World Cup, the gulf between the have and have-nots on the field may be large, but it is nothing like as vast as the chasm between their respective funding.”
 
 Williamson noted that the leading Associates survive on grants of under US $500,000 a year, and some, such as Kenya and Scotland, earn more through winning tournaments such as the World Cricket League which entitles them to ICC World Twenty20 participation money.
 
 “The Full Members receive 20 times more,” he said. “Zimbabwe, for example, coined in almost US $11 million from the World Cup, and yet they struggle to hold their own with several Associates.
 
 “What is more, the Full Members almost all have bloated payrolls; the Associates rely almost entirely on goodwill of hard-working administrators who often end up digging deep into their own pockets to keep things ticking over.”
 
 Williamson does not feel the ICC should be looking after the big boys and forget about the rest of the nations.
 
 “It has a responsibility to nurture and support the game in areas away from the traditional bedrocks,” he said.
 
 “That is done through a myriad of tournaments, coaching clinics and advice. The total sum spent on Associates is under 25 per cent of the ICC's overall budget.
 
 “To scrap that would be akin to pulling up the drawbridge, hoping that the game survives among the existing 10 Full Members, and hang the rest. No other sport would consider such a short-sighted policy, and neither should cricket.
 
 “Then there is the additional income that Full Members can earn through the very fact they play each other so often. Sponsorship and TV deals bring in tens of millions on top of the ICC funding.”
 
 Williamson indicated that the Associates cannot attract funding at the same levels as the Full Members, since they very few big matches.
 
 “…A fact not helped by the continuing reluctance of most Full Members to play them,” he said.
 
 “The big boys prefer to pack their schedules with ever longer one-day series against the same old – more lucrative – opposition. Television and sponsorship deals for Associates, if they ever get them, are for peanuts.”
 
 Williamson also snubbed Cozier’s comments about the Intercontinental Cup not being worthwhile as sides cannot always field their full sides as players cannot get time off work.
 
 “It is a problem, and one everyone is aware of it,” Williamson said. “But that ignores the fact that the bulk of players are prepared to make remarkable sacrifices to represent their countries.
 
 “With more funding, and not with less, those players can be rewarded for their cricket skills and so availability will improve.”
 
 CMC