By Neto Baptiste
Re-elected president of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB), Enoch Lewis, said plans are already in motion for the staging of both boys and girls youth tournaments.
Speaking with Observer media following his re-election for a fifth straight term as head of the sub-regional board last weekend, Lewis said the move is geared towards ensuring growth in Leeward Islands cricket.
“We are well on our way already to try and establish an under-16 girls programme and an under-23 boys programme, because we want to ensure we continue the growth of Leeward Islands cricket, and in that regard we have to look to build a solid foundation in terms of players coming through, so the focus would be on ensuring that we have that youth cricket going.
“Following that, we are going to focus on the hosting of Leeward Islands tournaments and also in that midst is trying to identify a long term sponsor to ensure that we are in a position to fund all these new programmes that we are adding,” he said.
Lewis, a former Antigua and Barbuda and Leeward Islands batsman, expressed confidence in the team chosen to carry out the body’s mandate, hinting that other measures could be put in place to ensure a smoother operation.
“I have confidence that, as a group, we can take Leeward Islands cricket forward. I don’t think this is an ‘I’ thing or an individual thing; this is not about Enoch but it is about the collective ideas that come forward. I believe that one of the things we need to do as an organisation is, from time to time, to hold retreats where we invite you in terms of the media [and] other stakeholders, to come and sit with us, tell us what you are saying, let of us know if the picture you are seeing differs from the picture that we are seeing, and if there is a gap then let us see how we can merge it,” the former player said.
Lewis was re-elected by a margin of 6-2 over the lone challenger, Carlisle Powell, when the body held it’s AGM here in Antigua last Saturday.
Admitting there were some jitters going into the vote, the Antiguan said he was confident of being re-elected.
“There is always going to be doubt because you don’t know what people will do on the day, but in terms of what was being said, I was confident that the results you eventually saw would have been what it turned out to be. The territories have been very happy with the work that we have been doing,” he said.
Oliver Macdonna of Anguilla, was elected as vice president of the LICB.
