January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Speight: Bermuda is making progress
The results have brought cricket into the mainstream with just about everyone from politicians to news commentators throwing in their two cents about the state of the national game.
The chin-stroking reached the international media this week with the U.K. Guardian, CricInfo and the Sydney Morning Herald among those to pick up the story of Bermuda's women - bowled out for 13 and beaten in four balls by South Africa on Monday.
We sat down with Neil Speight, chief executive of the Bermuda Cricket Board, to get his views on the so-called crisis, the public reaction to Bermuda's losses and the way forward for the sport.
BDA Sun: What goals did you set out when you were given that $11million grant from Government and do you think you're close to achieving them.
The goals were to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. To expand participation and quality of domestic and international cricket including youth and women's teams, to establish long term funding and to develop the BCB's organizational structure to a level that will be recognized internationally.
I think we have made good progress.
We don't know if we are going to qualify for the next World Cup. The tournament is in 12 months and we are anxiously waiting to see the outcome of the chief executives meeting in Malaysia where the number of Associate teams in the World Cup is being considered. Obviously if it's 16 we have more chance than if it is 12.
BDA Sun: Is there a small part of you that wonders if it would be better not to qualify and to play against some teams we can beat and get the public onside?
I think we have to educate the public. I wonder sometimes if it's just a vocal minority that have unrealistic expectations as opposed to the majority of the population. There's a lot of intelligent people in Bermuda that do understand what we're up against and that realize we have to play against the best to improve.
BDA Sun: There are some people who have unrealistic expectations, true. But most of the people that have written in to our paper, didn't expect to beat Guyana, they were more concerned that we didn't seem to have tried that hard. Some players were out of shape, some players didn't want to travel - one of the comments people keep making is why are we spending our tax dollars on players that don't even want to train?
The money is there to allow us to do our programme and to complete our objectives - to single out individual players is unreasonable.
We do battle against some of the island's cultural problems. But if we didn't battle against it we'd just give up and do nothing.
It would be easy to give up and say we don't have a big enough talent pool, it would be easy to give up and say we don't have people looking at cricket as an escape from poverty, it would be easy to give up if we decided we wanted to win every game we played.
Our goals are a lot more lofty than that. We could conspire to play Belgium and Mexico to ensure we won every game but we will only continue to improve if we push our programmes and out teams to a higher level.
We currently have three teams ranked in the top 15 in the world, so we are doing okay.
The gap between the number three team in the world and the number 12 team is massive whether it's at senior level, womens or under-19s. That's not going to stop us from trying to close that gap and it shouldn't be a reason for people to say we shouldn't be there at these world tournaments.
We have the best under-19 side in the Americas region whether we win all our games or lose our games.
We should be proud of our women for qualifying for the tournament in South Africa like they did.
They deserve to be there on merit if they lose badly to a side that is better funded, more experienced and further along in their cricket development than we are that doesn't change the fact that we deserve to be there.
BDA Sun: How much can they really have learned from losing in four balls?
They learn from facing a team like South Africa. They learn from how they prepare, the friendships they make, the experiences they share. They learnt something about quality fast bowling when they were bowled out for 13.
Terry Lynn Paynter is the best all round cricketer in the Americas region. Reuna Richardson, a 15-year-old, went on and today took one for 36 against an established team (the Netherlands). The captain battled for 60 minutes against quality bowling (Linda Meinzer v South Africa).
They can come back and share their experiences with Bermuda. We anticipate that taking part in this tournament will be a huge boost to young girls taking part in the sport in the future.
It's not easy when you get comprehensively beaten but that won't take away from the valuable experience they are going to get. Every time a team goes away on tour they learn something.
BDA Sun: But with the senior team it seems to be a different 15 that goes away every time. It seems to be different guys starting from scratch every time?
We have to continue to expand the number of people that can play at international level. There will always be challenges in getting the first 15 that the selectors pick. We will continue to work to alleviate those so we can be more consistent. We do need to increase the number of people that can step in and play a role.
The Stanford thing was exacerbated by the under-19 World Cup but it was an opportunity to expose some players to a higher level of competition.
They were the best 15 that were available. If someone doesn't want to play for Bermuda then they are not available.
We can, at least, make people aware of what is required to be competitive at the highest level and giving them a proper appreciation of the difference between club cricket and international cricket is going to be an important part of our continuing work.
What might work down at Bailey's Bay or Devonshire Rec on a Sunday afternoon might not bring good results in a four-day game against Kenya or Scotland
BDA Sun: What are the positives for you, about Bermuda cricket, right now?
To be recognized by the ICC as having one of the best development programmes and as being among the best developing nations in the world - we should be proud of that
The things that stand out to my mind are that Bermuda has qualified for the World Cup, we've qualified for the under-19 World Cup and the Bermuda ladies made it to the World Cup qualifier.
Bermuda has a national under 13 side that competes internationally, we havean under-15 side that competes internationally, we have 20 under10 cricket teams. Since competing in the World Cup our junior numbers have mushroomed. Participation has more than doubled to nearly 1,000 kids playing in our junior leagues.
We have to keep moving. Everyone else is progressing as well and if we stand still we'll get run over.
Every single Government school has an organized cricket programme. We have under 10 under 13 and under 16 leagues. We are getting generous financial support for those leagues. Those are things that augur well for long-term success.
Our coaching standards are always improving. We are running another WICB level one and level 2 course in April and we're going into the schools to coach the PE teachers. Herbie and Gus went to every club last year to help with coaching and provide coaching bags.
Some of the club facilities have become pretty poor. We are working on that. Every club has pitch covers and nine have bowling machines. Having proper cricket nets and facilities can transform a side.
The Berkeley facility will be a big help - we are working with them to produce a three-lane outdoor net facility with a 35m all weather surface.
We also have the National Centre and I'm hopeful they can continue to improve those facilities.
BDA Sun: What do you think of the reaction to Bermuda's results and this perception that the sport is in crisis?
I think it's complete rubbish. If there is that perception, then it is wrong. A programme and a country should teach it's children and it's athletes to aspire to greatness and if there are people that think 'don't go to the next level in case you don't succeed' they are teaching the community a very bad lesson.
It's about being the best you can be - we want people to pushing themselves and looking back without any regret and saying 'I gave all my efforts for myself and my country to be the best they can be.'
BDA Sun: Do you think that there are many people in cricket that can say they are putting in that effort and pushing themselves like that?
There are people that are and there are probably some people that are not
We need to motivate and encourage them and set standards and examples that will bring them a long.
With the fitness, we are battling a cultural thing - the country is generally overweight.
I think as a country we have improved, because we qualified for the senior World Cup there is a huge focus on the national team and it's results.
And maybe I need to say this every single day of the week but the $11m isn't about Clay Smith, Dean Minors, Irivng Romaine and the team that qualified and competed in the World Cup. It is about improving infrastructure, increasing participation, raising standards and building self esteem, teaching children the values of teamwork, being physically active and instilling national pride.
BDA Sun: Has the Government taken a keener interest in the sport after the recent results?
I think it's been good to see the Premier and cabinet showing there support at times when our teams have been losing that's when people need support the most.
We are a very small nation it's important for everyone to be pulling together rather than trying to pull it apart. The Premier and the minister have shown leadership and interest, which is positive.
BDA Sun: Do you expect to get continued financial support?
Government has supported us up to 2010 and they've shown they are supporting other sports in a similar manner with their grant to football. I believe they see the importance of this type of investment
From a personal level and a board perspective we are very proud of what has been done, - the infrastructure changes, the increase in youth cricket, that we continue to attract people to the game.
If we continue producing the outcomes and offering the programmes we do I'm sure we'll continue to get support.
BDA Sun: People have talked about dramatic changes to the domestic structure - like a semi-pro league or having designated professionals at each club. Is that a pipedream or a possibility?
There are economic realities in everything we do. I would always encourage people to dream but we can only deliver what's practical and achievable
I believe that Kenya have a fully contracted squad - probably for the same cost of contracting two Bermuda players.
Someone told me that the professional teams Allen Stanford has set up, which is something I really applaud, are making about 30 per cent of the national average wage here.
I'm hoping he comes here next but the purchasing power of the dollar is different in many territories and it is an economic reality that human capital is expensive here.
BDA Sun: Would you agree though that there is some justification in the criticism of the preparation and the performance against Guyana?
I think it is justifed to say we did not play to our full potential in that game. We know there were mitigating factors in that experienced players did not play, we know we played the defending champions on a wicket that was conducive to spin, however, everyone I've spoken to has accepted that the team didn't perform to its potential.
But to extrapolate that and say the sky is falling in is complete over reaction and nonsense.
BDA Sun: We've set some unwanted records over the past couple of years. Is that a symptom of the opposition we're now up against?
It's part of the process. There will be times when we are going to be humbled but that doesn't mean we've got a bad programme.
All it means is we played against a side that on that day, were a lot better than us. It still provides a great opportunity for us to learn, experience and bring that back to the country.
The under-19s got beat by ten wickets yesterday but they will learn from it and we can take something from the performances. There are a lot of really young players in that team.
For a 14-year-old like Greg Maybury to go out and bowl economically against some of the best young players in the world is great. There have been some incredible individual performances from the under 19 tour from some of the players that weren't looked at as the bright lights of the team.
England had a 17-year-old bowler who plays for Glamorgan's senior team John Harris - he took seven wickets on his county debut and has scored first class hundreds. Our players have a chance to look at their peers and to see what level they have to reach to be professional in England.
BDA Sun: Do you think Bermuda has improved over the past couple of years and do you think we'll qualify for the World Cup?
I think we have improved as a country. The other five countries that went to the World Cup have improved too. Namibia, Denmark and UAE have all improved. New opportunities are being provided the game is expanding, through the World Cricket League and teams are becoming more competitive. I believe we'll have a chance.
BDA Sun: Will you get the commitment from the players. Do enough of our best players want to play for Bermuda and to qualify for the World Cup?
Because we have been to the World Cup and the players saw what a great experience it can be and the under 19s will have been and experienced that as well, there is a huge impetus to want to get back to hat level.
We expect the players to be passionate and work hard and be the best we can be in March in Dubai (at the qualifiers)
We are going to face the same problems we did in preparing for the Stanford tournament. We can't change our climate - we're out of season. But so are Scotland, Ireland and Canada. The coaching staff and the high performance people will have to come up with a way around that.
I think we will get the commitment from the players and the team we want. There's not the defocusing of the under-19 World Cup. The programme will have been communicated well in advance and they will know what is expected.
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