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Sir Conrad Hunte says cricket in Barbados and the West Indies is in crisis and that’s why he wants to play a part in its administration.

He is expected to announce this week that he will seek a top position in the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA).

Sir Conrad received a standing ovation at the end of a rousing speech at the annual convention of the National Association of Barbadian Organisations in Hollywood City, Florida.

However, he stopped short of publicly announcing his candidacy for the BCA presidency, but indicated after the meeting that an announcement would be made this week in Barbados.

“Barbados and West Indies cricket is in crisis because of a lack of thought and a lack of foresight,” he said.

“In the past seven years when countries like Australia were beginning to adopt the new scientific and technological approach to the game, we in Barbados and the West Indies kept on with our outmoded and oldfashioned concept that talent alone would do it. They said to themselves that we didn’t use that sort of stuff when we got to the top and stayed for 20 years, why do we need it now? As a consequence, we are trying to play catch-up.”

He blamed a combination of factors for the “demise” of cricket in Barbados and the West Indies. For example, he cited:

• A lack of vision in both Barbados and West Indies cricket.

• “Clear technical flaws we see in some of our players in both Barbados and the West Indies.”

• Poor standard of club cricket in the region.

• “In the past, former Barbados and West Indies players used to play in club cricket.” But they “go abroad” for “economic reasons”.

• Lack of quality in the regional competition “adds to the demise” of the game.

• “Even though Barbados won the Busta Cup on its introduction, the standard was indeed not very high.”

• “Too much mediocrity” in the game today.

“I saw some things as an understudy to Sir Frank Worrell and as a student of history that give me an insight into what can be done and what must be done,” Sir Conrad said.

He paid tribute to Sir Frank, the late West Indies captain, for taking a “collection of brilliant individuals and transformeing us into a dynamic unit whose synergy was greater than the sum total of our individual talents,” he went on.

Sir Conrad said that Sir Frank’s influence was felt during the tenures of Sir Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd and Sir Vivian Richards.

“The technical flaws are one thing,” added Sir Conrad. “Lack of using scientificandtechnological approaches is another thing. But the single most important contribution, I think, to the demise of cricket in Barbados and the West Indies is a lack of vision.”

He credited Sir Frank with establishing a link between cricket and the psyche of West Indians, promoting unity among the various islands, and helping to raise cricketers from being players to ambassadors of the region and of the game as a whole.

“So out of that and as a student of history and as an understudy of Frank Worrell, I know what it will take, and that is why I want to throw my own services in the arena back in Barbados in order to have a chance to do just that,” he said.