Fluctuating fortunes for our regional men’s cricket ambassadors ranging from humiliation to admirable fight on their current Test tour of England serves as a reminder that this unique regional project, West Indies cricket, is very much a work in progress.

Readers will recall that this tour followed hard on the heels of a commendable performance for the Caribbean white-ball team in the men’s T20 World Cup hosted by West Indies and United States.

Obviously, a key element in rebuilding West Indies cricket to anything close to the glory days of decades ago must involve youth development.

In that regard we are pleased that regional administrators Cricket West Indies (CWI) organised a regional tournament for Under-19 girls recently.

Guyana, an exemplar for cricket development in the region, won, with Jamaica placing fifth.

Hurricane Beryl, which ravaged the Windward Islands and southern Jamaica, threatened to upend the annual men’s Under-19 tournament.

Cricket West Indies was able to adjust as needed. The planned three-day tournament — cut to a two-day format and badly affected by rain — ends this weekend with defending champions Jamaica in the final against Barbados.

And the annual boys’ Under-17 tournament is set for next month.

Such is the cost and the absence or inadequacy of sponsorship support, actual execution of such age-group competitions is always to be commended. The same is true for academy programmes such as are hosted by CWI in Antigua; and development tours such as that to Ireland re
cently.

In making its controversial decision to decline hosting rights for the recent T20 Cricket World Cup, the Jamaican Government through Sports Minister Olivia Grange pledged to provide $100 million for local cricket development spread over five years. That’s clearly a drop in the bucket.

However, as has been said, here and elsewhere, newly elected executive of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) will be duty bound to press for that support in full and on target. The business sector should also see cause to consistently throw their weight behind resource-starved local cricket.

Many people probably missed it, but in late June, Ms Grange spoke of plans for a US$550-million redevelopment of the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium to be a driver of sports tourism.

The Government’s information arm, the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), said redevelopment of the stadium — at Florence Hall, overlooking Falmouth, built for the 2007 Cricket World Cup — would be led by private investors.

As more informed readers will know, the Trelawny Stadium has hosted first-class cricket as well as other events, but mostly it has stagnated. It remains without lighting to facilitate events at night, as well as other crucial modern facilities.

Said Ms Grange in late June: “The investors propose to transform [the Trelawny Stadium] into a high-performance sports complex that can accommodate 21 sports disciplines, host international games [and] awards ceremonies and serve as a training ground.”

We fully expect that a cricket development aspect will be central to this massive project.

We wait for more meat on the bare bones.