Politics Could Get In The Way - Lloyd

By Orin Davidson
England has done it but Clive Lloyd does not feel a managing director for West Indies teams would be feasible presently.

Clive Lloyd

“Politics-wise, that might be a little difficult,” Lloyd stated during a flying visit to New York recently.

However, he does not rule out the WICB following in the footsteps of the England and Wales Cricket Board which recently appointed Hugh Morris as managing director of the Test team.

“Probably they might come to that if they could find somebody that could carry those duties,” Lloyd stated.

An attacking batsman in his day, Lloyd who captained the West Indies team to unparalleled success in the 1970s and 80s, said the current players have the world to play for to reach their maximum potential.

“With all the money being thrown around now, you would think that players would be motivated enough to be the best they can be,” he said
“Success alone should be a prime motivator because it brings in more than just the money you earn from playing, you can earn much more from promoting goods and services from people who want to be associated with success.”

Constant reports of fitness issues circulating within the team including a purported scathing report by physiotherapist Steve Partridge during the recent World Cup, and one by the manager of some members not measuring up on the recent tour of England, have surfaced.

But Lloyd said no official report was made to the WICB from the England series and pointed out that the squad had a training camp before the tour.

“Once you have a camp those are the things they must get over first, fitness is important, that has always been our forte in the past,” said the ex-captain is now a director on the WICB.

As the team stumbles from one dismal performance to another, Lloyd believes the solution lies in the development of better domestic structures in Guyana and the islands.

“The main thing I would do is get our domestic cricket right. If our inter island cricket is strong our Test cricket will be strong. We have the academies coming on stream, we have the colleges fielding a team to play in our domestic cricket and the Under-19s are now playing in the one-day competition.”

The bloated West Indies Board of Directors which formerly comprised 16 members but has now swelled to 18, has been criticized for being involved in every decision process in the cricketing aspect of its operations, with critics stating that many are not made in the interest of development.

Lloyd feels it is important to find the right blend of ex-players and other individuals, which he thinks is being obtained presently.

“I would not say they (administrators) don’t have any interest in the game. We still have to have people who can deal with the other aspect of cricket. It can’t be all cricketers, business people have a place on the Board as well to play,” he pointed out.
“What we need to do is get the right blend and I think at the moment we have the right blend. The common goal is to bring West Indies further up the ladder.”

Also, Lloyd feels the WICB’s cricket committee has the quality to play an important role in the operations.

“At the moment we have a very vibrant cricket committee, there is Deryck Murray, Andy Roberts, Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh, Desmond Haynes. They are very experienced individuals of high repute.We are doing our best to do the right thing. It is important getting the players to understand their purpose,” he said pointing out that they ( the committee) are only allowed to make recommendations to the Board which has the final say.

The former International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee who headed the Stanford Legends Board which coordinated the highly successful Stanford Twenty/20 competition last year, said his decision to quit was not only to avoid a possible conflict of interest in light of his position as a WICB Board member.

“I am quite happy with what I am trying to do and the most important thing is to get West Indies cricket back on track. I will do that as long as I have breath in my body."
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