West Indies cricket in post Stanford 20/20

Stanford’s involvement in the game of cricket in the region came to the fore with his establishment of the Sticky Wicket in Antigua. This may well have been an integral part of his empire building in the Caribbean and the then Bird Sanctuary seemed the best place to set up stumps.
The WICB, mired in debt, stood by as Stanford moved in and established a West Indies Cricket Hall of Fame, in which the region’s supporters of the game were encouraged to help in the determination of the newest entrants.
The WICB never saw what hit them.
Here was a single entrepreneur, seemingly new to the sport, taking hold of one of the most important legacies of the game in the region and the WICB did nothing but twiddle its thumbs.
Having allowed the West Indies Cricket Hall of Fame to escape its ambit the WICB found itself training Stanford in terms of the direction in which the game would go in the region. Rather tan lead the sport the WICB may well have found itself being driven by Stanford and his empire.
The fact is that the WICB may not have been privy to Stanford’s long term plans for his own involvement in the game in the region and farther afield.
Stanford is a business man and his business operations in the Caribbean vouch for his capacity to display a shrewd and aggressive approach to his management of his enterprises. Stanford’s foray into West Indies Cricket is no different.
When Stanford suggested that he was about to introduce the now historic multi-million dollar 20/20 cricket tournament in the region the WICB found itself stuttering.
The lack of vision and critical analysis on the part of the leadership of the WICB steered the members in the face.
The offer of megabucks was itself enough of an incentive to affiliates of the WICB and players as well as the famous legends of the game in the region as to cajole the WICB into lending its support to the venture, even if grudgingly so.
Williamson wrote
“The West Indies Cricket Board, the financially challenged official bosses of West Indies cricket has had to sit by rather like someone whose upstart neighbour has won the lottery and is flashing their cash around. While it has stopped short of having a major huff, it has hardly made secret that it is unimpressed, nor that it would quite like to get its hands on a slice of the cash. Stanford, however, did not accumulate his fortune by throwing money at bodies with a track record of profligacy”.