Positives outweigh the negatives – Cameron.
ST JOHN’S, ANTIGUA:
CRICKET WEST Indies president Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron has said that, if given a second chance at it, he would have handled the circumstances leading to the abrupt pull out of the tour of I ndia i n 2014 differently.
The tour i n 2014 ended midway after Windies players followed through on threats to quit the tour because of a pay dispute between the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and Cricket West Indies (then known as the West Indies Cricket Board).
But Cameron told The Gleaner that the one thing he would do differently i n his presidency is reconsider handling of communication between both bodies. This is because he said that dealing with WIPA differently would have meant that players would have been properly communicated with, and he described that as a “stepped missed.”
“If we had to do it again, what we would’ve done is engage WIPA and our senior players. I’m not so sure that we would’ve gone back on our policy of what we needed to do at that time. Because if we didn’t do that, we would not be where we are today, with a business that I can say to you, with fair confidence, that would be sustainable. Going for ward, when we’re making decisions like that, we will be trying to cover all the bases.” Cameron explained.
Cameron said that his time as president saw the positives outweigh the negatives and he believes that cricket i n the region is moving forward as a result.
“When we took over in 2013, we had a huge deficit, declining per formances i n the teams, escalating salaries and discipline and everything upside down,” he said. “We didn’t understand how we’re gonna ac tually turn it around. Thankfully, today, we’ve won three championships in that time, we’ve won a couple of Test matches, which says that we’re getting better. We’re not where we need to be but if you look at the professional system, you can see the level of cricket being played. We now have more players that we’re looking at for our selectors to make decisions. So that to me, is a huge plus.”