Tony Becca

A new day is dawning for cricket in South Africa, and as one who has been among a number of people in this region talking about changes and suggesting changes mirroring those now taking place, or about to take place in South Africa, I wonder when will the West Indies Cricket Board, the players' association and the players see the light.

In Australia, people do not only talk about cricket being a business. In Australia, those who administer the game, those who play the game, and those who pay to watch the game also come together in the interest of the game, and the result is that some of the money from the game goes into development - into states, clubs and schools. Those who play the game are paid based on what the game can afford, those who are paid have an obligation to the game - an obligation which makes them accountable to the board, and according to a report in CricInfo, the same thing is about to happen in South Africa.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), the South African Cricketers Association (SACA), and the six professional teams or franchises - the Cobras, the Dolphins, the Eagles, the Warriors, the Lions, and the Titans which came into existence in the 2004/05 season - have decided to come together in another move that they hope will make South Africa cricket as strong as, if not stronger, than Australia's.

In the memorandum of under-standing, there will be minimum salaries for the players, there will be salary caps for the players, and there will be optimal use of player resources through regulations relating to player transfers and to players playing overseas in the off-season.

More money

When one looks at the West Indies situation, however, probably the most important things to note in the South African MoU are those which state that funds will be provided to amateur clubs for the development of the game and that what the players earn will be linked to the financial position of the game in South Africa.

In other words, the better the cricket, more money for the players - for those who, by their dedication and their skill, make it better; the worse the cricket, the less the money for the players - for those who, probably because of their lack of dedication and their lack of skill, make it so.

According to Tony Irish, the chief executive officer of the SACA, the players are now "genuine stakeholders in the game, it is like being stakeholders in a company; what players will receive in the future will depend on how successful the game actually is, and as players we will obviously work with the other stakeholders to make it as healthy as possible in the future."

That is wonderful to hear, and that is what is needed in the West Indies if the standard of cricket in West Indies is to improve, and most importantly, if West Indies cricket is to return to the top, or near to the top.

Common vision

According to Irish, the initiative of the MoU came from the SACA and from the players themselves. According to him, the SACA and the players had a good look at what they believed was best practised relating to professional cricketers around the world, they presented it to the CSA, and since then they - CSA, SACA, and the players - have shared a common vision.

And listen to this - to Ashwell Prince, the coloured South African batsman from Cape Town who is president of the SACA: "They (the public) are cricket's number one stakeholder and the cricketers are aware that more will be expected of them in the future.

"They (the public) are our supporters and are the ones who will ultimately determine the game's success. The way we play our cricket and how we contribute to the game both on and off the field in the eyes of the public will be the key."

Hopefully, and before too long, the West Indies Board, its players' association, and its players can come together in a similar way so that the fans, the public, which is really the number one stakeholder, will be encouraged to fully support the game which, for so long, meant so much to the people of the West Indies.

Australia have benefited a lot from a good relationship with its players' association and with its players. Apparently, South Africa stand ready to also benefit from a good relationship with its top two stakeholders, and if the board appreciates that the number one stakeholder is the public, that the number two stakeholder is the players, and that it is way down the list, and definitely so after the sponsors and probably even after the media, so too can the West Indies.