Shallow: CWI, gov’ts must collaborate

Cricket West Indies President, Dr. Kishore Shallow said facilities development and facilities management was one vital area for functional co-operation between his organization and the governments of the Caribbean.

In the T&T capital for the historic second Test between West Indies and India at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad, Dr. Shallow said CWI officials and the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on Cricket were scheduled to meet in the near future to further discuss areas for functional co-operation.

He said facilities at the venues around the Caribbean where international matches were played need improvement , and the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, to be staged in the Caribbean next year, was the perfect time to get things started.

“The governments have a massive role to play in the development of our cricket, and I understand the difficulties that they face in terms of finance, but they can play a part in facilities improvement,” Dr. Shallow said during an interview on a sports radio show in Trinidad.

“Around the corner, we have a massive opportunity to do it when we host the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup next year, so facilities and access to resources, and they have tremendous experience with administration, so there are different ways we can complement each other.”

Dr. Shallow said it was vital that the governments around the Caribbean understand the important role they must play, but he felt it was also important for CWI to sensitize them and all stakeholders about how they can contribute to the success of West Indies cricket.

“From the preliminary discussions we have had (with the sub-committee), we are all on the same wavelength in terms of greater collaboration. I have stated clearly that I am quite open to having an inclusive environment and working closely with the governments across the Caribbean,” he said.

He added, “There ware some who valued the role that governments could play in the further development of the sport in the Caribbean, but there needed to be frank discussions about the boundaries of the relationship so that there will not be direct ‘involvement’ in certain affairs.”

Dr. Shallow said he had met with a sub-committee during the last CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in July in the T&T capital that coincided with the West Indies’ failure to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 India in October.

He said the passion he saw from the leaders during that meeting he hoped could be channeled into “harmonizing resources” and try to “identify opportunities to improve further.”