Grenada's PM Dr Keith Mitchell being interviewed by Michael Bascombe during the CMC CricketPlus Lunchtime Show on Sunday.

Despite ongoing preparations for a successful hosting of cricket’s World Cup in 2007, a regional leader doesn’t think its people are informed enough about the significance of the event.

 

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell said the public relations, as well as, what he describes as the old-fashioned administration of the game by territorial boards, remain critical factors.

 

Dr Mitchell, speaking on the CMC’s CricketPlus Lunchtime Show with sports journalist Michael Bascombe during the seventh Cable & Wireless One-Day International between West Indies and Australia here on Sunday, said, starting from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), there must be a radical change in deepening the process of cricket activities in the region.

 

“I think we have sensitized our people more about that major possibility and what it means to the region. I don’t think our people understand the significance enough about that major event and what it can do in propelling the region in many different ways.

 

I believe the cricket associations, generally speaking in the region, simply want to continue to operate in the same manner that they operated 30 and 40 years ago. This is the age of technology, this is the age where we are talking about modernizing every aspect of everything we do, and I think from the West Indies Cricket Board downwards to all levels of cricket associations we have to see a radical change in the attitude and involving people and deepening the process of cricket activities within the region is concerned.”

 

The Grenadian leader, who is also a member of CARICOM’s Prime Ministerial sub-committee on cricket, and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines were among thousands of spectators at the National Stadium on Sunday witnessing the West Indies’ nine-wicket triumph over World Champions Australia in the seventh and final One-Day International.

 

However, Australia’s captain Ricky Pointing lifted the Cable & Wireless trophy after securing the series 4-3.