Thursday, July 3 2008

ST JOHN’S: Batting icon Brian Lara has urged regional cricket authorities to focus their attention on preparation and funding, and has called for one of the newly built stadiums in the Caribbean to be turned into a high performance training facility.

Lara said while millions of dollars had been spent on preparing for last year’s Cricket World Cup, similar energies needed to be invested especially in the area of preparation, if West Indies cricket was to turn around.

“Even though I am very thankful — I’m sure all of us are very thankful — for the beautiful grounds that we have in the Caribbean, second to none in the world, I feel though that there is some necessity to understand how the game is played or where most of it is played, which is in preparation,” the former West Indies captain told the 35th Caricom leaders summit here on Tuesday after being conferred with the prestigious Order of the Caribbean Community.

“We spent hundreds of million of dollars getting these stadia ready for the World Cup but not enough money on preparation. We didn’t have a cent to prepare a team.”

Lara called for one of the venues in the Caribbean to be transformed into a training centre and be equipped with all the modern equipment needed to facilitate the development of players.

“Now that we use the (UWI) Cave Hill University as our academy, I feel it necessary — and I feel it is something that should be discussed – that one of these very nice venues be turned into a training centre,” Lara contended.

“One of these venues with the seats taken out, and you have living area for players, you have four, five strips (pitches) (currently) out in the middle, make it 20.

“You’ve got four, five strips in the nets behind the cricket ground, make it 20 with bowling machines and every paraphernalia that is necessary to ensure that we have cricketers harnessing their talent in the best environment possible.”

Lara, the record holder for the highest scores in Test and first class cricket, said funding was also a crucial aspect of the Caribbean game that needed to be addressed.

He said authorities could not be afforded the luxury of simply depending on gate receipts and money from television rights, but rather needed to generate other streams of income.

“We can adopt the Catalonian model where the FCB football club of Barcelona extended membership to all people that live in Barcelona,” Lara advanced.

“Can you imagine if we extended membership to all six million and a Diaspora of another six million of West Indians to invest in West Indies cricket? I think we would create a lot of money, a lot of funds to ensure that we have what it takes to become the best team in the world again.”

As another means of creating finance, Lara also proposed that regional governments use their financial resources to form a fund, and set up a board to govern the venture.

“As Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Honourable (Bruce) Golding said, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the Caribbean, it’s just our priorities,” Lara stressed.

He said cricket authorities could also tap into a financier as another means of generating income.

Lara contended that stadiums would be filled once those charged with administering the game focussed on these key areas.

“Preparation and finance are the two most important things,” Lara reiterated.

“We played our best cricket on uneven surfaces but stadiums were full because our cricketers were very, very good.”

The 39-year-old Lara, also the record holder for the most career runs in Tests, was honoured with the OCC on Tuesday for his achievements and for his contribution to cricket and Caribbean life.

He quit international cricket suddenly last year following the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. (CMC)