NEW DELHI, 1 March 2007 — In sometime from now, attention, like never before, will shift to the Caribbean —- an archipelago that has remained an enigma to most outsiders. Its beautiful beaches, wild, yet luscious natural growth has always concocted a heady mix with its cricketing history that has been replete with bloody rivalries, daring deeds and disdainful dismissal of any opposition, irrespective of its size and stature.
Yet, if past few years are rolled out before analytical minds, it wouldn’t take a Nobel laureate’s brain to guess that all’s not well with the one-time cricket powerhouse, more so with the staging of the World Cup.
Countless impediments, which we will touch upon here, stood in the way, and have remained there with little change. Only time will tell how smoothly the Cup, which has already been beset by many ifs and buts, progresses.
While there had been question marks over West Indies’ capability of hosting the event with an occasional voice opining that it be shifted to another venue, the West Indian legends of yore and organizers have maintained that the passion in the region will overcome all possible hindrances.
They have been mooting the idea of a World Cup with frills. In short, each island nation’s tourism stands to gain by what they are promising to provide through their World Cup holiday packages: entertainment from 6 pm to 6 am.
Yet, despite having entertainment as the USP, all has not been well with preparations.
Because news coming from the region suggest that cricket, and particularly financing it, has been a major problem.
Delay in completion of grounds, issues within the domestic cricket and the row between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board are things that have not quite struck as the curse of Pharaoh but nonetheless have raised a few eyebrows.
To quote a former West Indian cricketer, the Colin Croft, the practice facilities in the West Indies have for long been inadequate. Just recently, before the renovation, there was a lack of outdoor practice facilities. Croft complained that batsmen about to go in to bat could not have a knock because outdoor practice pitches were in the ground. He also criticized the lack of facilities for media and the change rooms, which he said were too small.
As recently as one month before the Cup, Don Lockerbie, the ICC World Cup venue director came down heavily on the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad, which he termed as the least prepared of all the grounds. Work on the member’s pavilion and the Trini Posse was termed as being too slow.
If that was not enough then, Sabina Park in Jamaica, the other big center, also took a bit too long. The dressing room and the media centre were not completed as per schedule.
In fact, according to one report, domestic tournaments like the KFC Cup and the Carib Beer series were supposed to be held at Sabina Park and at Trelawny, the venue for the opening ceremony. This was to be used as a test for the ground conditions and the pitch. However, according to that report they had to be shifted to Kensington Park, Chedwin Park and the Alpart Sports Club. The officials however maintain that there were no plans for any cricket at the Sabina and Trelawny, but whatever be the truth all this points to some confusion. Ideally, a few domestic games should have been held just to facilitate testing.
The ground had battled crisis on other fronts. There were cement shortages and labor problems, even the war last year in the Middle East delayed the construction of a roof as it was being made in Haifa, Israel!
Similarly, the venue for the final on April 28, the Kensington Oval in Barbados, has been renovated at a cost of $135 million. The capacity has gone up by 15,500, from 12,500 to 28,000. But its construction was not on time and it had to be readjusted.
Add to that the Brian Lara stadium in Trinidad, which was to host the warm-up games, will not be ready in time and the University ground will be used instead.
In short there have been problems on the construction front but the organizers maintain that the grounds would be ready in time.
The idea of hosting a World Cup in the West Indies was always fraught with problems, because the existing grounds and facilities had become obsolete long time back. And at some places, the construction of the stadia had to be started from the scratch. At the moment the estimated budget for renovation of the stadia and the construction of new ones is over $300 million and time is at a premium.
Three of the newly constructed grounds have been built in collaboration with China, with the one in Antigua, the Sir Viv Richards stadium being called a gift from China to the Antiguans. The one in Georgetown in Guyana, the Providence stadium has been built in collaboration with India, which is particularly interesting because a large number of people of Indian origin are living there.
In sum, six new stadia had to be built, and a major renovation had to be done on four other grounds.
In September, 2005, Rawle Brancker quit as the Chairman of the World Cup organizers committee, after two years in service, citing lack of transparency. He had serious differences with Chris Dehring, the MD of the Cricket World Cup, West Indies. “Let me solemnly state to you that if the transparency, accountability, and the best practice that I insisted upon, on behalf of the board of Cricket World Cup, are too much for Dehring to live with and some board members cannot see that he should go, then I am gone. I have no place in that company,” he was quoted as saying.
On the domestic front, the West Indian coach Bennett King had been lamenting that the supply line for the Caribbean international team has been insufficient and inadequate. Any avid watcher of West Indian cricket would know that there has been a serious lack of options and the way the domestic game has been going has not helped matters. The Academy in Grenada for the youth, started with much fanfare, had to be closed apparently because of the lack of finance. The domestic competition was streamlined and invitation to foreign A sides had to be stopped. Matches did increase but the cricket didn’t cover as broad a spectrum as it used to.
The West Indian board has incurred huge losses, and that is one reason why it perhaps led to the players— unrest before the issue cooled down.
After their successful campaign at the Champions Trophy in 2004, the West Indian players protested against their Board signing a deal with Digicel, a telecom company in competition with its competitor in the Caribbean, Cable and Wireless, with whom the Board and the players had deals. Things fell to such a level that on a tour to Sri Lanka, players from the A side were summoned.
After a lot of verbal volleys, things cooled down when a compromise was reached and now we have all the players playing under one banner.
That financial crunch had also led to another deal between the Board and Allen Stanford, who a la Packer, wanted to reap a rich harvest through cricket in the Caribbean by making it an entertainment through Twenty20.
To the 19 regional countries invited, Stanford offered
an alluring sum. Each nation was given $100,000 for infrastructure and equipment, $120,000 for players and coaches, $60,000 for maintenance of facilities, and $350,000 for airfare, lodging, meals and other incidental and miscellaneous expenses.
Under a 25 million dollar debt, a desperate West Indian Board gave in to the offer. But in pure cricketing terms it might not help in promoting that game for which the West Indians were so famous -- a dominant force in Test and one-day forms and with a list of players that could send shudders down anyone’s spine. Those days are past but maybe this World Cup may change it all.
The crowds may not come in hordes as they do in the sub-continent and Australia — the seating capacities indicate it. But what it can do is spark a revival. If the West Indies win the Cup or even reach the final in front of their home crowds or produce some scintillating knock or bowling spell, then, it may trigger a revival.
As for now, let’s sit back and wait to see how the event unfolds and whether cricket is more than just the holiday beaches.
