The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come to the assistance of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with a six-million dollar financial injection.
With the 2013 home series between West Indies and Zimbabwe, not being sponsored by tele-communications giant Digicel, WICB president Julian Hunte on Wednesday finalized the Targeted Assistance And Performance Programme (TAPP) agreement with the ICC.
The WICB’s monetary award is for the next three years under this targeted initiative, which is aimed at developing more competitive teams at the higher levels of international cricket.
The funding, which is not for Test cricket sponsorship, will supplement an increased investment by the WICB in its high performance programme, providing enhanced support to the current elite players and future generations of talent.
Hunte, who was in Barbados to witness the Test match between West Indies and Zimbabwe, which the regional side won by nine wickets yesterday, said he was grateful for the enhanced support to help WICB achieve their high performance objectives.
“We have started to make progress on the field over the past year, and this support will allow us to build on that by investing more resources than ever in the development of emerging talent in the West Indies,” he added.
Zimbabwe Cricket was also awarded US$1.5 million over the next three years, which will be used to support an expanded schedule of ‘A’ team cricket and identify and support future international players.
“We believe the TAPP award will help us become more competitive in the international arena and facilitate the continued growth of the game in our country,” managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa said on signing the agreement.
ICC chief executive David Richardson noted that it was very important to the long term prosperity of international cricket that there were competitive teams at the highest level.
“Both the West Indies and Zimbabwe have been very clear in identifying the factors that will support improved performance. The TAPP agreements provide an opportunity for both members to increase their investment in high performance, and we look forward to witnessing the impact of these programmes.”
The agreements with West Indies and Zimbabwe follow similar targeted performance support for Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland. (EZS)
