Cayman Islands will not have a pro team in the immediate future but the good news is that by the end of the year it will happen.
Cayman cricket technical director Theo Cuffy went to St Croix last week with executive committee member Ivan Burges for a meeting with Sir Allen Stanford and his advisers.
Stanford is the American billionaire injecting $100 million into Caribbean cricket with the intention of rejuvenating the sport and making West Indies great again.
His strategy is to improve standards at 20/20 level through his annual tournament and the ripple effect is that the overall level of the Test side will rise. The second Stanford 20/20 tournament was won by Trinidad and Tobago two months ago when they slaughtered Jamaica in the final. Cayman Islands went out in the first round to St Lucia.
Cuffy came back from St Croix optimistic about the whole Stanford set up despite teething problems in the first two years.
‘The Stanford meeting was a success,’ he declared. ‘We’re happy that the Stanford 20/20 initiative has resumed funding to the countries and we are included.
‘There’s a new president in charge now, Andrea Stoelker who, I think, is engaged to Sir Allen, and she’s in charge of it. There are new accountants and operations personnel, so I think it’s starting safely under new management.
‘We are going to be funded for the first year April 1 to March 31. It’s an on going process which will be assessed from year to year and they will continue. Hopefully, it will go on at least for the next three to five years.
‘We’re extremely satisfied, Ivan and myself, that we were able to meet face to face with the people in charge and to get some points across. We’re pretty happy.’
Cuffy said that the Cayman Islands Cricket Association will get around US$100,000 to be put into every aspect of the sport, including the youth development programme, senior development, infrastructure and for things like practice nets and mats. They are also using the funds for groundsmen.
So when can those wishing to turn pro start planning when to hand in their notices? ‘We are assessing for the pro programme. It cost an exhorbitant amount for the first year of the four pro teams, close to $3 million.
‘And they’re not really satisfied with how much they’ve gotten out of the programme. So the directors are re-assessing the programme and it will take approximately six months.
‘By that time they will tell us what is the next step. But we are confident that the pro programme is an ongoing one and more and more countries will become pro teams.
‘The funding goes directly to the associations for distribution, however, when the pro teams are created the funding will go directly to them.
‘I believe the association is quite satisfied that we can hold off for the time being from forming a pro team so that the infrastructural development can take place.’
Related Videos
