RE-ELECTED West Indies Cricket Board president Julian Hunte has lamented the lack of fighting spirit displayed by the regional team at the 2011 World Cup.
Speaking after the regional body’s annual general meeting at which he was elected to serve a third consecutive two-year term as WICB president, Hunte said there were greater expectations from the team that bowed out of the tournament following an embarrassing ten-wicket loss to Pakistan in the quarterfinals last Wednesday.
“We all share in the anguish and disappointment of the fans with the recent performance of our senior team in the Cricket World Cup. Whilst we are happy that the team made it to the quarter-finals we expected a better performance and greater fighting spirit from our players,” Hunte said.
“However we need to be honest that we have a lot more work to do to reach the level where the senior team is consistently successful at the international level.
“We remain committed to our policy position adopted in October, 2010 which will guide our planning, preparation and selection.”
In its policy, the board said it was expected that its panel of selectors would pick players with a clear signal that there was a rebuilding process.
The WICB also said it expected a settled ODI team by 2013 and a settled T20 team by 2012, the two-year period between 2013 and 2015 is to be used as the final preparation to winning the 2015 World Cup and the two year period between 2012 to 2014 to be used as final preparation towards winning the 2014 World Twenty20.
“We fully expect the selection committee to follow these goals whilst management will do what is necessary to provide the resources to the High Performance Centre and team management to achieve the outlined goals,” Hunte said.
At the annual general meeting, Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron was also re-elected unopposed to the office of vice-president for a third consecutive term.
Hunte and Cameron first assumed the offices of president and vice-president in July 2007.
“We are at a critical stage in West Indies cricket in terms of the setting up the infrastructure to take us forward. As president I am committed to ensuring that the strategic framework which we are now refining is implemented and becomes operational during my term,” Hunte said.
“The realization of the Cricket Foundation – which we have begun to formulate – is also fundamentally necessary to fund the future growth and development of West Indies cricket.
“We have commenced the process of the development of West Indies cricket at all levels and we must see this process through,” (HG/PR)
