Dear Editor,

Having followed the match between a Jamaican team packed with reserves and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), I have come to the conclusion that the concept of the CCC has outlived its sell-by date. It seems that the CCC only has a small pool of players to draw from. I believe that there should be more proportional representation in regional cricket.

We need to have a structure that is more even-handed in terms of population distribution.

As the territories have uneven population sizes — Jamaica (2.9m), Trinidad (1.2m)

Guyana (750,000), Barbados (300,000), Windwards (500,000), and Leewards (less than 200,000) — is there any surprise that the Leewards are continued cellar dwellers?

I would like to see all the teams play each other, over an extended regional four-day season that stretches from February to July, since that is now part of our international season. Instead of a single round-robin, make it a home-and-away domestic season. But crucially, instead of the CCC, I would like to see Jamaica being allowed to have a second team, based on Jamaica’s population size, and its dominance of four-day cricket over the past five years.

Take the Jamaican players from the CCC and those in the IPL and we have a pool of about 24 players, at least, from which we can field teams. Call them, for argument’s sake, Jamaica East and Jamaica West. Here are some of the players: Brenton Parchment, Zeniffe Fowler, Simon Jackson, Andre McCarthy, Jermaine Blackwood, Dave Bernard, Carlton Baugh, Nikita Miller, Jamie Merchant, Bryan Buchanan, Sheldon Cotterrell, Shacoya Thomas, Nkrumah Bonner, Danza Hyatt, Marlon Samuels, Tamar Lambert, Chadwick Walton, Andre Russell, Andrew Richardson, Odean Brown, Akeem Dewar, Jason Dawes, and Xavier Marshall.

The CCC has no real supporter base. At least Jamaica East and Jamaica West will have pre-existing rivalry that they could build on.

Michael Siva

siva.michael@gmail.com