Shaping up for World Cup 2007

The recent spate of resignations from the hierarchy of the Cricket World Cup 2007 organisation seems to suggest that all is not well in terms of the preparatory exercise for this prestigious event and may well spell ominous signs in respect of what the future holds.
The resignations appear to signal above all else that something if wrong and that changes are imminent in the way things are done. It seems that for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) it is no longer business as usual.

Newly elected president of the WICB, Ken Gordon, has before him the Lucky Report and from all indications, it seems to be a very damaging one. Among other things there now seems to be a view held by an ever-increasing number of analysts that the old structure of the WICB needs a complete overhaul and with it the removal of some of the old guard who had been overseeing the survival of a moribund and near decadent programme that could not have developed the game in the region.
There is therefore much cause for concern among the peoples of the Caribbean who are anxious to see us do well as hosts to the rest of the cricketing world in 2007.

Experience
The experience of former hosts of the Cricket World Cup suggests that it is no small undertaking and that every effort must be made to ensure that the region pulls together to ensure success.
As the situation unfolds in the region, however, one does not get a strong sense of security in respect of the planning process, especially in light of the many challenges emergent from the sheer geography of the region itself and the historical performance of regional governments in so far as honouring their financial commitments to regional projects are concerned.
Thus far it seems that the various Local Organising Committees (LOC) in the different islands of the Caribbean may not be in the kind of harmony that would serve the best interests of our hosting of so important an event.
Regional efforts have all failed save and except those associated with West Indies Cricket and the University of the West Indies. The desire for each Caribbean Prime Minister to be lord of all he surveys has been the single biggest obstruction to regionalism. This blight may not escape the region’s hosting of the Cricket World Cup in 2007 is enough effort is not made to ensure that we can rise above political myopia.
It is difficult to see how efforts at forging the CSME and the operation of the CCJ are being thwarted in one form or another and that we would suddenly cast all of this aside and do it right for the Cricket World Cup in 2007.
In the Caribbean we tend to behave as though everything can be treated in the way my friend Calvert Woods used to put it, “Tha’ easy!” The truth is that it is not easy and we are not appearing to be cognizant of this reality.