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On Monday afternoon while listening to the 'People's Show' an exasperated caller sounding as though she was at her wits end questioned host Everest DeCosta about what could be done regarding the failure of the current West Indies cricket team to win matches either at home or abroad.

She certainly has good reason to be concerned, the West Indies have now lost eight Test matches in a row, the worst slump in their 78 year Test history, the star batsman of the team Brian Lara has recorded scores of 5, 0, 1 and 1 in four innings for a 'princely' sum of 7 runs from the 23 balls he has received, and skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul has not only failed miserably with the bat but more importantly has been unable to inspire his team to lift their game.

With the World Cup less than a year away these poor performances by the host country certainly does not bode well.

While all appears to be doom and gloom I can assure this lady as well as the many other West Indies fans in this country that help is on the way or to be more accurate is currently underway. It has come in the form of the Stanford 20/20 Tournament. Let's put aside the competition itself.

What impact is the total programme making?

First of all, Stanford has provided each of the participating countries with $100,000 to improve their facilities as well as $5,000 a month for upkeep and maintenance. Inadequate facilities have been a long-standing problem throughout the Caribbean, particularly in the smaller islands; the injection of these funds should help. And as every sports fans knows in order to get the best out of an athlete you must provide him with decent facilities.

Second, Stanford has enlisted the aid of fourteen cricket legends, Clive Lloyd, Lance Gibbs, Ian Bishop, Sir Everton Weekes, Desmond Haynes, Courtney Walsh, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Garfield Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Joel Garner, Wes Hall, Richie Richardson, Curtly Ambrose and Andy Roberts to act as 'ambassadors'. All of these individuals have not only played, but excelled at the highest level of the game and know a thing or two about cricket.

As was seen over the weekend in Bermuda, they are coming into direct contact with the players and sharing their wealth of knowledge with them. Something the current cricketers can only benefit from.

Third, by spreading his net so wide, Stanford has ensured that he leaves no stone unturned in the search for talent from the region. One need only look at the 19 participating countries Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago and the US Virgin Islands to understand this.

Believe it or not the West Indies is one of the world's smallest Test playing countries in terms of population therefore it is essential to ensure that you provide every available player with a chance to prove his worth and that is exactly what Stanford is doing.

Miraculously, Stanford has managed to do this by avoiding the 'red-tape' of allegedly one of the most bureaucratic institutions in world cricket, the WICB. Let's hope his plans bear fruit so that in future West Indies teams will be where they ought to be at the top of world cricket.[[In-content Ad]]

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