Ranjit Saini is interviewed for another hour and a half on Sportstrends (34 views at time of writing..).
Ray has kindly provided us with a summary on the forum..
Summary:
“Demographics” : Canada does not currently have the numbers of juniors to supply a strong national team. Need to bring more players into game (increase awareness of sport).
Problems include 1) small cricket population 2) Not playing enough cricket or short version of game 3) Many players leave game (player retention low)
Solutions: Increase player retention, better coaching, grow game (awareness)
Academy : CC wants program to certify academies on voluntary basis-“in very near future”. Certification would mean academy meets a transparent standard.
Competition : National team players need training against foreign players. Needs to be mandatory part of team training.
Sponsorships : Sponsorships dependent on viewership/eyeballs. Cricket current lacks product that attracts sufficient public interest to acquire corporate sponsors. It is hoped GT20 will change the sponsorship landscape.
Umpiring : Canadian international umpires must qualify through CWI (Regional Full Member)
Continuous improvement : Every new CC initiative is evaluated, refined, will add to the body of knowledge.
Over 50 cricket : Not under purview of CC. Not at official ICC competition.
Women’s cricket : Discussions within CC on the matter ongoing. Hope’s something concrete will be agreed by February.
Failure at WCL2 in Namibia : (1:24:00 of interview) Many opinions on what went wrong depending on who you ask. He will send draft document on matter to Board next week and hopes to release his thoughts soon thereafter. Saini says team showed ability to win. Nothing changed on the board. Answers lie with players, staff who were there. He made some pointed comments indicating some players were not fully committed.
New ICC eligibility criteria has helped some countries (Oman, UAE).
Next proposed topic of interview : Cricket Canada’s teams in 2019
My comments in response to interview:
Many of questions posed of President (Women’s cricket, obtaining Level 1 coaching and umpiring certification, actual action plans) could and should be answered by a better website.
Cricket Canada seems to still be at the discussion stage for many of their plans to move forward.