The domestic Four Day and Super50 cricket leagues have been given a passing grade by Dave Cameron, President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
Speaking yesterday on the Good Morning Joe-Joe Sports Show on OBSERVER radio, Cameron highlighted the emergence of young talent, such as fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, from the Leeward Islands, and Shimron Hetmyer, of Guyana, as proof of the success of the tournaments.
“I am actually convinced that we are getting better. Despite the conversation about pitches, which is something that we continue to work on, I think we had some reasonable (scores). We had new players coming forward and so from where we sit we are reasonably happy,†he said.
“Obviously we have to look at the format for next year and we are happy that we are able to host so many games this year, which was a major achievement for us, and we hope to at least have those minimum games next year,†he added.
Successes aside, however, Cameron said there is always room for improvement. One of those, he assured, will be the quality of pitches available for the competition’s next cycle, which begins later this year.
“It’s always going to be challenging to play so many games in a short space of time using four grounds [Jamaica, Trinidad, St Kitts and Barbados]. Clearly the pitches deteriorate as the tournament goes on, so going forward we need to look at that (issue), but pitches in general continues to be a challenge for us,†the WICB boss said.
“We do have Ken Grafton, who goes around trying to ensure we have quality pitches, but it comes back down to the curators that are on the spot and some of our government partners to ensure that we have quality wickets,†he added.
This year’s Super50 competition was also bolstered by the inclusion of a number of top cricketers in the region, including Test and limited overs captain Jason Holder.
Holder’s Barbados Pride lost in the Super50 final to defending champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force by 72 runs.
First Published In The Antigua Observer.
