By Morissa Lindsay
Despite the millions of dollars which the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) spends on developing junior cricketers, the island’s governing body for cricket is powerless to do anything if these same cricketers then switch allegiance to other countries.
As BCA president, Conde Riley, explained to Barbados TODAY that the association’s impotence relates to an inability to make minors sign contracts during their development process. Several Barbadian-born cricketers have decided to study and play cricket in England because a parent or parents are citizens. In recent times, a number of them in whom the BCA invested have decided to throw in their lot with England. Riley was asked about the latest prospect Che Simmons.
“This is something we have been looking at, but we can’t contract these guys because they are minors and very few parents are willing to sign on their children’s behalf. They want to keep all the options open so this is something that we may develop the players and I think Che is a wonderful fast bowling prospect but at the same time we can’t do anything about it,” Riley explained during a press conference at Kensington Oval today to announce a sponsorship deal with BICO to invest $75 000 in Under-15 cricket.
BCA president Conde Riley
The likes of Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell and Christopher Jordan were all born in Barbados and chose to play for England. There is a possibility that fellow Barbadian Simmons, who is playing and studying in England, may go that route as well. Another talented cricketer, Jordan Reifer, is also playing and studying in England and creating a favourable impression. They are all products of sponsored BCA age-group cricket.
“Once they are born or they have parents living or born in England, we have no control. As I said we will lose some but we will keep some and although we lose those players, England came here and we beat England. We lost to Bangladesh and India recently but this is one of the things we have to face.
“We spend millions of dollars annually on these kids and we are aware that we will lose some but some of them will want to play for the West Indies and we will hold on to them. It is something we have talked about but there is nothing we can do about it,” he stressed.
The BCA president also stated that he hopes that the English have heeded the words of former legendary West Indies fast bowler and commentator Michael Holding who made an appeal for them to treat and manage the players properly.
“People in Barbados were upset when we lost Jofra Archer to the English and then Jacob Bethell but I was proud that we could produce people that once they got to England with all the money they have and all the programs that they have, that they could be seen as good enough to be snatched up by England. While we lost them, they made room for others in our program.
“England was down here the other day and I saw one of our players Jason Holder get a beaver trick and we beat them. I am proud of what we continue to do, Barbados’ cricket did not start with this board, and I came and found a board that was well established with programs in place. What we did is that we put the Centre of Excellence in place to ensure that the best 20 players come from the Everton Weekes Under-13, 15 and 19 age groups,” Riley said.
Riley also spoke about West Indies One Day International vice-captain Shai Hope who also studied and played in England under former Sussex captain Alan Wells and is a perfect example of one who opted to play for the West Indies.
Riley said that Hope should play all formats of the game and that his performance especially over the weekend against India where he scored a brilliant 115 runs was a clear example of his capabilities.
“One of the things that the BCA does outside of organizing competitions is that we pay great attention to the education of our youths. We currently have guys in England attending secondary school doing O levels and A levels but I want to focus on one particular guy. On Sunday he played an innings that should have led to us winning but winning is not important, it was the sort of grit and determination that I spoke of with Shai Hope.
“I remember when Shai came back with his coach, a man called Alan Wells and he spoke to Vasbert Drakes and I and felt that Shai Hope had shown skills coming out of England and should be the captain of the Barbados Under-19 team that year. Shai came back, went through the process and in 2012 he scored four hundreds and I remember the late Sir Everton Weekes saying to me he must be fast-forwarded and you see what we have today,” Riley shared.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
