Nanthan is insisting that the problems with West Indies cricket have little to do with WICB's governance, but a lack of resources from regional governments to fund training. Photo: iriefm.net

The Vice-President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Emmanuel Nanthan, claimed on Tuesday December 22, 2015 that regional governments are not doing enough to support the development of cricket in the region. Photo: Provided

Nanthan's declaration comes as the Dave Cameron-led WICB and CARICOM appear to remain at loggerheads over a recommendation calling for the dissolution of the board by a review panel setup by CARICOM and the WICB.

The WICB appears to be preparing for a legal battle with CARICOM to resist the recommendations of the Review panel by hiring Dominican lawyer Anthony Astaphan.

Nanthan is insisting that the problems with West Indies cricket have little to do with WICB's governance, but a lack of resources from regional governments to fund training.

"It costs the WICB about US$1 million to train a cricketer from the Under-15 level to the elite level in international cricket," said Nanthan, a sports administrator for the past 20 years."Eighty-seven per cent of all amounts spent by the Windwards and Leewards in age group tournaments is represented by accommodation costs, air and sea travel costs and the cost of meals for players who are away from their homes. No wonder on an annual basis the Windwards and Leewards are always at the bottom of the table in the early rounds of the regional competition."

A recent meeting in Grenada between CARICOM prime ministers and a WICB delegation to discuss the panel's governance report made little progress except for an agreement for future meetings.

WICB's defiance appears to have been fired-up following a subsequent board meeting in St Lucia, which also discussed the governance report.

"Did the academics look into this? Are the nation states encouraging cricket in the communities?" asked Nanthan. "I say all this so you can understand the costs of the opportunity, which you have been offered through the opportunity of the Professional Cricket League."

State’s role

The WICB vice-president added: "Early education in sports in schools is the responsibility of the State. The responsibility of training to achieve successful performance and results for national teams in regional and international sports is the responsibility of the governments."

Nanthan says the WICB is prepared to make amendments, but stressed that only share-holder territories can legally dissolve the WICB."We are prepared to make some changes as we did following previous Governance Reports," he stated. "However, on the basis of a corporate review and legal advice, only the shareholders of the WICB can dissolve the company - the WICB. And similarly only shareholders can appoint new directors to the board, whether they are independent or shareholders directors."