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In this week's column we present the final part of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President Pat Rousseau's speech at the launch of the Shell Cricket Academy at St George's University in Grenada on January 29. I think we have started in the rightdirection by emphasising the game at the youth level, including the introduction of the quicker form of the game at the Under-10 level.

Our focus and major expenditure in the next several years should be at the Under-12, Under-15 and Under-19 age groups. We must do a lot more to implement our Under-12 and Under-15 programmes in all the territories that come under the WICB's jurisdiction.

Jamaica and the Windward Islands now show the benefit of introducing a planned and organised structure among those age groups.

It has lifted their performance at the first-class level and, despite what has happened with the Busta Cup this year, I say to the Windward Islands that, in a very short period, the game has improved in the Windwards and we must go forward with the programme.

We will be providing a substantial part of the funding for implementing this programme from 2001 onwards. This is the main reason for our recent reorganisation and our advertising a number of posts last week. We must strengthen the organisation to deal with these and other projects.

We also have to work hard at correcting the absence of a proper cricket programme in most schools in the region. Other than having a team represent the school, no cricket is played within the schools. There are no house matches or form matches and there is no organised training for cricket.

Hence the importance of the Under-12 and Under-15 competitions like the one initiated by the Jamaica Cricket Board seven years ago.

As I have said before we must work hard and we need more support from governments, especially in reintroducing cricket into schools and (in assisting with) the hard work of the cricket boards to make sure this is properly implemented.

If this can be done we can make good progress towards achieving our goal in the shortest possible time. We must continue giving maximum support to our international teams, including our Test players, our 'A' team, our Under-15 and Under-19 teams by intensifying special training programmes that have been designed to prepare them for serious competition internationally.

We must make available the best coaches and the best facilities where they can train and prepare themselves. This is the minimum we owe them.

If we apply ourselves and implement our plan we can achieve the results we want in three years. Our plan is structured with this in mind. We will provide the details of this after we have discussed it with the board and it has been accepted. We intend to publish the main points of it and we hope we will get the full support of all the people in the West Indies. If we succeed we will again be the No.1 team in the world.

The new Busta Cup (structure) is one of the steps in the plan. We are looking at having an 'A' team every year and there are a couple years when we are thinking of having two (A teams); the whole idea being to improve the competitive standard of cricket.

We're looking at a semi-professional league where we have players on retainer year-round and there are other important goals we have set.

But, to me, the emphasis must always be at Under-12, Under-15 and Under-19 (levels) because these are the players of the future and these are the players we want to see coming to the Shell Cricket Academy.

We have to pull together as a team and as a people with full support for the players if we are to attain our goal. I would like to thank St George's University, the Shell company and the members of my board for creating this unique opportunity for West Indies cricket.

I would like to say a special word of thanks to Chris Dehring who I know has worked very hard with Shell and to Laurie-Ann Gomes for the marvellous job they have done in putting this project together.

In closing, I repeat what I said before: we didn't get into these problems overnight and we won't get out overnight but the goals are clear and the future is ours.

Thank you very much.

© The Barbados Nation