The legends of West Indies cricket gathered earlier this week to hear an announcement by Allen Stanford that he will be investing �16million in West Indies cricket.
 Stanford wants to improve fitness among West Indies cricketers |
And I can tell you there were gasps of astonishment, approval and appeciation among such luminaries as Sir Gary Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards and Courtney Walsh.
They all believe the businessman's input can only be a good thing for the game in the Caribbean and that this has to be the opportunity of a lifetime for any aspiring West Indian cricketer.
The immediate main objective is for the West Indies to become the first country to host, and win, the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007.
It is also hoped this initiative might inspire other companies to invest in West Indies cricket.
While the presence of the money is excellent, more impressive are the plans of what it will be used for and how.
Sanford is building a state-of-the-art training facility in Antigua and wants the the board to take a leaf out of top teams' books, like Australia and England, and employ professional trainers, nutritionists and specific coaches.
He believes this will bring players' fitness and their game to a new level.
There are major incentives including Man of the Match awards and �568,000 for the winning team in the inaugural Twenty20 competition.
Surely this will mean no player and no team would have any excuses not to be in their best shape.
But already we have had a knee-jerk reaction from the West Indies Cricket Board and Players' Association, Wipa.
I think the Board, especially, are scared out of their wits that the game will be removed from their control, the same fear that existed in the mid-70s with the Kerry Packer revolution in Australia.
Only hours after the Stanford announcement came news that the Board and Wipa are "nearly at agreement" over a contracts dispute which has dragged on for the best part of a year.
Meanwhile, there was also a concern that the scheduling of the new Twenty20 competition in August and September 2006 might somehow disrupt the normal Caribbean cricket season but nothing could be further from the truth.
Those two months are the only ones available, as the West Indies are normally on tour, or the players involved in existing regional competitions, at other times.
I am very sure the Stanford conglomerate did not just randomly select these dates. The scheduling will augment the programmes already in place.
An important question yet to be answered is whether this is going to be a one-off payment or will funds continue to come in from the Stanford organisation in future years.
It is now up to the players to show the attitude and commitment required to keep the money flowing.
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