Re-elected Directors of Barbados Cricket Association Express Gratitude for Members' Support and Look Forward to Strengthening the Association

Re-elected directors of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), Pedro Greaves and Clement Anthony Depeiza, have expressed thanks to members for their support while looking forward to making the Association stronger.

At the 22nd Annual Special Meeting of Members on Wednesday at Combermere School, there were five contenders for two positions as directors. Greaves gained 101 votes, Depeiza 61, Adrian Bailey 48, Clint St. Hill 41 and Patricia Greenidge 26.

Vice-president Calvin Hope and treasurer Jason King were re-elected unopposed.

Greaves is serving his third term as a director and Depeiza his second.

Full Board of Management: Conde Riley (president), Calvin Hope (vice-president), Gregory Nicholls (secretary), Jason King (treasurer), Pedro Greaves (director), Clement Depeiza (director), Kamal Springer (director), Winston Stafford (director), Henderson Wallace (director).

Greaves and Depeiza spoke with this columnist.

HOLDER: You retained your posts as directors of the BCA. What do you reckon led to the success?

GREAVES: At our Annual General Meeting, members were relatively pleased with the Board’s overall performance and handling of the affairs of the Association. They recognized and appreciated the hurdles we faced, and whilst views were expressed of the need to improve the standard of cricket, these results then suggest that they saw no immediate need for change. I think I would have also been visible enough and engaged members throughout and they are rewarding me for the hard work I put in. And, to them I express my gratitude.

DEPEIZA: The members of the Association have recognized that my stewardship on the Board, so far, has demonstrated a positive commitment to serving the best interest of the game of cricket itself; the clubs, the schools, and the cricketers involved, with the view to improving/uplifting the standard of the game. I wish to thank the membership for their expression of confidence in me in that way.

HOLDER: As chairman of the BCA Centre of Excellence, women and youth committees, can you highlight some of the achievements as well as objectives?

GREAVES: I’ll answer the achievements along with the objectives together.

We tweaked the BCA Schools’ Under-19 tournament to white-ball and coloured clothing and the reason was to allow for our boys to be better prepared for regional competition and thereafter to have more players on the CWI Under-19 World Cup Team. The broader objective as well was to develop International white-ball stars to follow in the footsteps of Dwayne Smith, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder and Shai Hope.

The BCA was at risk of not fielding a team in the CWI Under-19 Women’s Tournament a few years ago and we went on a serious drive to increase participation in female cricket. We engaged the school coaches, we created a new position within Cricket Operations – Women’s Cricket Officer – who was tasked with a number of initiatives and we started a BCA Young Gems program. In a further partnership with the Barbados Royals Girls Cricket Club we now have a mutual ambassador in Hayley Matthews whom we hope will inspire the next generation. This has resulted in a resounding increase in participation of over 300% at grassroot level.

The vision of the Board is to have a High Performance Centre for our youth cricket, and a designated facility outside of Kensington Oval for all of our programs where the focus will incorporate video recording, biometrics, soft-skills, classroom sessions and technology.

HOLDER: In the last couple of years, there has been marked success for Barbados men’s teams at the junior level in regional competitions. How would you like to reward them?

GREAVES: Yes, we congratulate the Under-15, 17 and 19 teams for doing the double in their respective tournaments. It is customary that we have a luncheon to celebrate where we invite the parents, selectors, management team and all those who played a crucial role in the success. I would personally like to reward them by having those same players (once they remain disciplined on and off the field) stay together and travel to places like Ireland, USA, UK or South Africa on developmental tours.

HOLDER: There has been a reduction in the number of invitees at the Centre of Excellence. What has led to this?

GREAVES: Every parent would want to have their child/ward at the Centre of Excellence but the numbers started increasing (35) and it lacked effectiveness resulting in a regular practice session. What the committee and coaches recommended was that we reduce the numbers (17) and focus on skillsets. So what we have now is a dedicated day for a fast bowling clinic, a spin bowling clinic and batting clinic where the focus and drills are a bit different and most importantly that the players selected get the attention required.

HOLDER: Are you happy with the standard of play generally in the BCA domestic competitions?

GREAVES: No. I have been playing cricket for 25 years at club level and the decline is evident. With the dwindling number of teams in the Barbados Cricket League, less masters playing in the schools and a loss of club stalwarts in the BCA, we are now seeing a lack of transfer of knowledge and the teaching of tactics on the field. Our young players also leave cricket early at the end of a day’s play/match and don’t stay behind long enough to discuss the game with the seniors. Having said this, as an administrator, we as a Board need to seriously look at restructuring our cricket and making it more appealing as there are a lot more distractions today. Cricket is an industry and we must ensure that our competitions remain relevant. Our development plan needs adjusting.

DEPEIZA: No, I am not. Given the amount of resources the BCA is investing into our local game, I am disappointed in the level/standard of play exhibited throughout the season. Could it be that with the number of teams participating we are not having a concentration of the best players representing teams? Maybe, in an attempt to address this we may have to consider, however reluctantly, the idea of the merging of some teams.

HOLDER: It is clear that some clubs are struggling financially and also to field teams. What’s the dialogue like between the BCA and clubs in this regard?

DEPEIZA: The BCA has done a lot in terms of assisting clubs to offset their financial constraints. We used to have Zonal Sub-Committees attached to the Clubs Assistance Committee where we had field officers going out and meeting with the clubs and then preparing a comprehensive report on the status of all clubs. We are anxious to re-start this initiative, as information from clubs sometimes is tardy.

The secretariat met with Lords Sports Club who submitted a letter withdrawing from the Second Division and will now only field one team in the First Division. We are also looking to improve on this dialogue as currently we have limited member forums outside of the usual club meetings before the season. We encourage said clubs to participate in these forums when they come as attendance of clubs to meetings has not been the best.

HOLDER: How challenging is it to acquire sponsorship for domestic competitions such as the Elite division, the Super Cup and T20 Cup?

GREAVES: We have received sponsorship for our Youth and Women’s cricket in recent times and we hope that this will extend to our topflight domestic competitions. The challenge is that when West Indies cricket is not doing well it filters down into the territories with corporate entities refraining from engaging. The interest is not totally lost though as was seen with the overwhelming corporate support in the CPL and the just concluded ICC T20 World Cup. We have often heard that it takes cash to care and therefore we encourage all potential sponsors to partner with us and be a part of the resurgence of local and West Indies cricket as it starts with our programs at domestic level.

Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for over four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com