Commentary: West Indies Cricket Club

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” — Amos 5:24

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Many of my ideas are tested in conversations with my younger son, Bevan. As a journalist and public relations professional, he reviews my columns each week before they are released.

Many years ago, during one of those discussions with Bevan and a couple of his colleagues, the concept of the West Indies Cricket Club emerged.

More recently, my elder son, Captain Kevin Springer, drew on his global management experience as a senior pilot with Emirates airline to offer a fresh perspective on the challenges facing Cricket West Indies (CWI). He suggested that greater use of the knowledge and experience of our cricket legends could be key to the sustained improvement of the West Indies team.

These two interventions led me to the conclusion that CWI and individual cricketers can achieve mutual success if we begin by redefining who owns the game.

Cricket Fraternity

My proposal is to establish the West Indies Cricket Club, enfranchising the wider West Indies cricket fraternity as shareholders. Under this model, members of the cricketing fraternity would become owners through a structured and regulated crowdfunding investment mechanism.

They would no longer be merely fans buying tickets; they would be shareholders investing in the future of West Indies cricket. This would create a new and sustainable funding channel alongside governments and sponsors, while establishing a business model that makes CWI more directly accountable to the public and generates capital for development.

With this foundation, governance changes fundamentally. The president and board would no longer be accountable to an abstract notion of “stakeholders”; they would be directly accountable to the Club’s shareholders — the people who have invested in the future of West Indies cricket.

As I have always maintained, good governance is important because it fosters trust through transparency and integrity. Shareholder democracy demands that trust.

Shareholder Structure

This shareholder structure would also enable a balanced model based on two essential ingredients: leadership and shepherding.

Leadership is strategic. It sets the vision, establishes systems, allocates resources and measures results against a clear plan designed to restore West Indies cricket to the global supremacy we enjoyed in 1984.

Shepherding is personal. It nurtures the mindset and skill set of each player — performance, mental well-being and preparation for life beyond the boundary. Our retired legends are ideally suited to this role, walking alongside players, guiding them and listening to them through the wisdom of lived experience.

Other cricketing powers demonstrate the benefits of combining strong structures with individual development — Australia through its pathways, India through its domestic system and England through its professional structures. The Caribbean possesses immense natural talent, but without both leadership and shepherding, too much of that talent can be lost.

At the center of my proposal is ownership — the shareholders of the West Indies Cricket Club. From that ownership structure would flow five clear channels:

• Governance: the president and board, accountable to shareholders
• Investment: governments and sponsors, alongside shareholder capital raised through crowdfunding
• Marketing: media and communications professionals
• Performance: players, coaches, umpires, curators and management
• Training and Motivation: the High Performance Centre, The University of the West Indies and our cricket legends.

I echo Sir Hilary Beckles’ 2019 call for UWI and CWI, two great regional institutions serving the Caribbean people, to share experiences and expertise.

West Indies Cricket

If the people who love West Indies cricket can also own a stake in West Indies cricket, the Board will be accountable to them, leadership will have capital with which to build, shepherds will have a mandate to nurture, and the heartbeat of the Caribbean can once again become the pulse of world cricket.

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