TODAY?IS?D-DAY for the showdown for the top administrative position in local sport.
President of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA),?Joel Garner, a former Test fast bowling great, is being challenged by attorney-at-law and former Barbados Youth team player Calvin Hope.
The showdown slated for the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre begins at 5 p.m.
Garner said his team had a five-year plan that was bearing fruit and developing the club structure in a meaningful way.
“What we have done is to give them financial support such as coaches, balls, paying of umpires on their behalf at significant cost and infrastructural support.
“We also want to tap into the sports administration courses offered by the Barbados Olympic Association and other specifically designed courses,” he said.
Garner said the BCA would continue to develop cricket by looking at the entire schools programme, from the Under-11 through to the Under-19, and also the local clubs structure.
Hope is in no doubt that BCA is crying out for leadership.
“I have observed a need to move our cricket to a new level, to bring the cricket back to the centre of national consciousness and awaken the sleeping giant that is called cricket.
“Every household is interested in the game and understands the importance to the cultural development – socially and economically, but the leaders, especially in the last four years, appear to focus just on the top,” said Hope, who has a four-page full-colour vision statement.
“The focus has to be on the overall game, and every stakeholder must be energized to rekindle the spirit of promoting cricket as a national expression of excellence,” Hope added. (MK)
