Dear Editor,

“What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” asked C L R James in his famous book Beyond The Boundary.

The Jamaica Observer interview with West Indies Cricket Board President Dave Cameron was most revealing. He is right in claiming credit for the new regime where some 90 or more players now receive US$30,000 annually and play in an extended regional first-class season, but what do they do the rest of the year?

It’s not complicated. Nothing will change in the fortunes of our cricket until administrators look to Jamaica’s phenomenally successful formula which has taken us to the very pinnacle of the world in athletics: expert coaching plus razor-keen competition. You may be lucky to get by without the former (eg George Headley, Garry Sobers, Everton Weekes) but never without the latter.

Cameron needs to ask himself this question: “How it was that between 1948-1954 West Indies became the world’s number two cricketing nation without a regular first-class season, sponsorship, access to English county cricket, coaching, or IPL/CPL, all on a shoestring budget?

Answer: The players honed their skills every Saturday afternoon across the region in very intense club competition. Now we can have 20-odd clubs in a top league, playing on substandard grounds, without spectators.

Until we recapture that earlier formula, under the leadership of the WICB, Cameron will only be half-right and we will continue to wander in the wilderness.

Errol W A Townshend

Ontario, Canada

ewat@rogers.com