Montserrat’s forfeiture exposes LICA inadequacy - AntiguaSun

[Anguillan newsboy]

Montserrat’s forfeiture exposes LICA inadequacy
Friday October 05 2007

Commentary
by Elwin Francis

Montserrat’s decision to forfeit their last round of matches against Anguilla in the Leeward Islands Cricket ***ociation (LICA) Three-Day and NAGICO one-day tournaments has exposed LICA’s inadequacy in its administration of cricket in the sub-region.
Montserrat’s decision not to travel to The Valley on Wednesday handed Anguilla their first LICA three-day title on a silver platter, while shattering Antigua and Barbuda’s hopes of reclaiming the title.
Anguilla would have been entering their final round three-day encounter against Montserrat on 45 points, three ahead of Antigua and Barbuda who are hosting the Combined Virgin Islands (CVI) in their match.

With Anguilla and Antigua and Barbuda heading into the final round with the only realistic chance of securing the three-day title it reduces Antigua’s game with the CVI to one of only academic interest and giving the team some match practice.
The LICA must take some responsibility for this year’s three-day competition succumbing to a farce.
Montserrat’s Cricket ***ociation cites a lack of finance as the reason for defaulting to Anguilla. Why the LICA didn’t come to Montserrat’s aid and pay the team’s travel and accommodation expenses?
The answer might be simple. Why do it for Montserrat when LICA is not doing it for the other competing territories?
LICA’s need to secure proper financing if the organisation is going to administrate and execute it plans of developing cricket in the sub-region.
For far too long, the LICA has been a cash-strapped organisation and what happened this week once again highlights the need for sub-regional body to get its finances in order.
For the 2007 LICA tournaments all participating teams are pretty much responsible for their travel and accommodation expenses so one really wonders if the LICA can really penalise a team for not having the monies required to get to another island to play some matches.
To avoid a repeat, the LICA must subsidise these teams in some way, shape or form. The LICA must bring together all the heads of the affiliated territories to create a proper rules and regulation system that will impose some form of penalty on teams who forfeit matches in the future.
The LICA tournament still serves a great purpose in West Indies cricket. It exposes and helps in the development of the many young talent in the sub-region and it also provide good practice for the players who will go on to represent the Leeward Islands in the WICB tournaments.
I am therefore calling on LICA to embark on some serious fund-raising and sponsorship drives to get the required finances to properly administrate its cricket. I am also calling on LICA to implement measures to avoid a repeat of the fiasco with Montserrat.
This will only help LICA in establishing its tournament as not only worthwhile, but a meaningful competition where a team can justly feel proud of winning the championship.
Failure to act on these suggests and put proper systems and measures in place will only lead to further relegation of the tournaments.