Former president of the West Indies Cricket Board, Dave Cameron, assessed the effects of the global lockdown on cricket and said that the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) is a huge plus for cricket after six months of the pandemic.
About the damage, he said, “It’s been tremendous and enormous but, interestingly, cricket has weathered better than some other sports. England was able to play the National series, New Zealand will too shortly, but West Indies haven’t started any since the start of the pandemic, so that is damaging their finances and I suspect the same for South Africa and some of the smaller countries.” He continued, “Cricket has been damaged quite a bit but, thank God for the IPL. We are watching some excellent cricket, and I think it’s excellent because you have the best players in the world to play again.” Cameron mentioned that he expects to see India and Pakistan find a way to have Pakistani players playing the IPL too because they are some of the best in the world.
Talking about the status quo that cricket has been accustomed to in the last few decades and the kinds of changes needed, Cameron said, “What cricket needs is for the governing body to be the governing body and set rules and create opportunities for private investments. IPL is the brainchild of the BCCI and really flourishing because of all the private attendees who came because of the resources. They attract the best cricketers around the world.”
Sharing what he would do if he took on the mantle of ICC president, the former WICB president said, “Cricket must grow quicker around the world and the big countries should develop cricket alongside the smaller countries and be able to have their players and coaches make the biggest leagues around the world. That’s how we’re going to grow. We need to get the United States and those with huge markets on board, with private investors.”
Talking about the notion that most of the money that comes into cricket is only from a few countries, Cameron said that West Indies hasn’t gotten a single dollar for the particular tournaments mentioned and elaborated on his plan to change that. “Well, I don’t think things can change overnight. It will continue to come from the big countries with the big economies. For example, Europe can contribute to our coffers. The United States is a massive contributor to tournaments. I’m not advocating anything, but I believe these other tournaments in Europe are never going to smaller countries. The West is producing the kind of income simply because of the size of their economy. We should be able to see cricket, and not be paying massive retainers or international players. But I don’t. So, it is something that the board needs to sit down for. It’s not something I can walk in and get done overnight. Discussions should grow to this point,” he said.
Responding to how he would tackle allegations about Test cricket being sacrificed at the altar of T20, he said, “That is not anybody’s doing. It’s Generation Z which doesn’t want to take five days to consume the game. Again, I believe that there are certain countries’ geographies and they should just continue to play Tests. England, Australia, India, Bangladesh can play. But a Test match in the West Indies is a dead robot. There is not enough revenue or advertising sponsorships behind it to make this,” said Cameroon.