ST JOHN'S – Ken Gordon believes progress is being made in West Indies cricket both on and off the field, but there are no shortcuts to success.

The president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was speaking at a board dinner at the Royal Antiguan Hotel, where he was delivery a report on his first year in office.

"Fortunately, a new spirit appears to have emerged, and we continue to be optimistic that we will build on recent gains," he said.

"But there is no short cut on the way back to the top which is not a road for the faint-hearted who will be lost along the way. Our task is to continue to put the building blocks in place."

Gordon announced that the WICB had negotiated a special memorandum of understanding with the City of Lauderhill in Florida.

"This gives us the exclusive right to arrange games at their new US$85 million stadium now under construction," he said.

"We have also made a commitment to organise the events which will launch the opening of that stadium.

"Similarly, we have strengthened our relationship with United States Cricket Association and Canadian Cricket Association which region comes under the WICB as the full member for the hemisphere.

"We will increasingly include these teams in Caribbean fixtures and work to build wider participation in cricket throughout North America.

"This is a most promising development with significant potential for expansion."

Gordon disclosed that the WICB had suffered a major setback in its plans to generate revenue through the establishment of a Caribbean wide lottery.

"The recent decision of the Trinidad and Tobago Government to phase out such games has been a great disappointment, for considerable time and effort have gone into developing this lottery," he said.

"The project is now being re-evaluated. Meanwhile, we have submitted an alternative proposal to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago which could have the effect of making up the portion of revenues that would be lost by that country's non-participation in the lottery.

"I am pleased to advise that I received a call from Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who told me that I was free to say to you this evening that he agrees in principle with our proposal and will be so advising other Heads of Caricom."

Gordon said that at the beginning of the financial year, the issue that confronted the WICB was not profit or loss, but survival.

"At the beginning of our financial year, we had an operating deficit of US$6.6 million from the previous 12 months," he said.

"Our consolidated deficit when we discounted the World Cup activities was US$15 million, and sources for the funding required to keep us in operation had virtually dried up. Very bitter medicine was required and we took it."

Gordon said the WICB owed an important debt of thanks to a sub-committee that comprised director Enoch Lewis, and Antigua and Barbuda-based accounting professionals Gregory Georges and Avondale Thomas which was given the task of examining each line item and eliminating variable expenses wherever this was possible.

"They did an excellent job in reducing projected costs by more than some US$3 million," he said.

"That set the stage for the results which we expect to be confirmed by our auditors. We now expect that as at the end of our financial year in September, we would not only have eliminated our US$6.6 million loss of the previous year, but made a small profit."

Gordon concluded that though the WICB continues to have strains on its cash flow, it had moved from the survival mode to the point where it has to plan to address its consolidated deficit of US$15 million simultaneously with the all important issue of cricket development.

(CMC)