West Indies cricket does not belong to the West Indies Cricket Board, but to the people of the Caribbean. This is the strong view expressed by the West Indies Cricket Board's Governance Review Committee, under the chairmanship of former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson, in an interim report presented to the WICB in the form of an aide-memoire. The Patterson Commission outlined that they used the above fact to guide them not only in settling how best cricket in the West Indies is to be governed, but also in recommending how the various deficiencies might be repaired. "West Indies cricket is in an unacceptable state and despite previous studies and reports yielding an avalanche of documents, the slide has been sharp and is still continuing," the Commission reported. "At the Test level, our team is ranked in eighth position. Granted the steady improvement of Bangladesh, and save for the existing circumstances in Zimbabwe, it could even be in further jeopardy." In the wide-ranging report, the final version of which is due next month, the Commissioners noted there were a number of negative perceptions about West Indies cricket "which, whatever their validity, [they] consider it necessary to address". The Commissioners identified the inefficient administration of the WICB, flawed sponsorship deals, shambolic finances, and funding not reaching the territorial boards as the negative perceptions of the regional governing body. "We intend to address these concerns in advising how the WICB should be set up and run," the Commissioners said. "Changes are essential, and a new departure is great." The committee recommended two ways the Board can be restructured. The first was the replacement of the WICB with a West Indies Cricket Commission that would include all the major interest groups including the territorial boards, players, women, Caricom, among others. "When the membership of the Commission has been chosen, it would then appoint the Chairman," the report said. "Such a Commission would meet bi-annually and be responsible for approving the policies, programmes and budget. "A modified approach could be to establish a nominating body comprised of nominees of the cricket boards, the governments, the West Indies Players Association, past players, the regional private pector and the media to identify, interview and nominate the directors." The other format for a change of structure submitted was for the WICB to be floated as a publicly-listed company on the regional stock exchanges, with directors accountable to shareholders, and with an annual general meeting. "This could also help to raise much needed capital and give the Caribbean public a sense of ownership," the report said. "Such a broad share-ownership structure would be spread among regional institutions, territorial boards, Caricom companies and nationals (resident or abroad), and WIPA." The Commissioners asserted that no matter how the WICB is chosen, there must be a clear delineation between its role as a policy-making and monitoring entity and that of the management and staff as the executing arm. The Patterson Commission also recommended that the WICB was on the right path having employed a Chief Executive Officer, but he should be supported by three divisions. The Governance committee also suggested the establishment of a cricket academy, the selection of a group of 15 players for continuous retraining and development over the next 12 months, and the drawing up of a business plan and budget for 2008-09. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com