Bassarath: Unity among territorial boards key to WI success

Unity among territorial boards is key to the success of West Indies cricket.

So says new Cricket West Indies (CWI) vice-president Azim Bassarath, who was elected to serve a two-year term at the board’s annual general meeting in Antigua on Saturday.

Joining Bassarath at the helm of regional cricket was freshly elected CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow, who served as deputy for the past four years, alongside outgoing president Ricky Skerritt.

Speaking from his Antigua base on Monday, Bassarath said all territorial boards in the Caribbean must “be on the same page” if West Indies cricket is to return to its historic, global dominance.

He was pleased to be elected, despite running unopposed, and ready to hit the ground running alongside his new executive. Bassarath is also TT Cricket Board president.

“It feels good to serve in this capacity. I look forward to working together with president Shallow to try to follow up on what president Skerritt, during his tenure, what he started.

“At this time I think West Indies cricket is at a good place."

But, he added, "We are hoping that we are going to get the support from the directors across the Caribbean to put things in place to take CWI forward. It’s a lot of work to be done. We can’t do it by ourselves. We’re going to be approaching directors to ensure that all are on board, that we work together for the benefit of West Indies cricket and to ask the different stakeholders across the Caribbean to partner with us.

“Just as they (boards) want to see our cricket move in the right direction, with better results, all of us in the boardroom want to see the same thing."On what he hoped the new executive could accomplish, he said: "that during our tenure we can at least compete with international teams and lay a foundation so that we can take off from there.”

Pre-covid19, TT re-implemented its domestic U23 tournament and it remains active to date. Bassarath believes initiatives such as these are instrumental in helping players at this level transition to becoming professional athletes.

He thinks introducing U23 programmes and tournaments across all territorial boards augurs well for player production and broadens the options for West Indies selectors.

“We will be working on ensuring that we start some U23s across the different territories. That is something we feel is missing. TT have this U23 tournament and we think it is important for all the territories to be on the same page.

“That (U23s) is on the top agenda for Dr Shallow. That was something earmarked to do immediately in his manifesto. So we will be focusing on that in the not-too-distant future and we are going to try to ensure that each territory has an U23 tournament.”

Asked about a letter Guyana Cricket Board president Bissoondyal Singh sent to Skerritt on Saturday withdrawing its nomination of Bassarath as vice-president, he said that matter “was dealt with at the AGM. There is no issue with that at this time and we have put that behind us.”