00:00When the West Indies were dismissed for 27 all-out, it prompted a high level of concern for the way
00:05forward for the game in the region.
00:07And now, CEO of Cricket West Indies, Chris Dering, believes he is unraveling the answers needed to get the Windies
00:13out of their troublesome predicament at the bottom of world cricket.
00:17He has come forth with a new vision.
00:19It is our intention, along with the government of Antigua and Barbuda, to establish the Caribbean as the hemispheric hub
00:29for cricket in this side of the world.
00:31And so with that, we are also going to be building out the first true high-tech, state-of-the
00:37-art, high-performance center right here in Antigua.
00:40We have a 20-acre property that we have gotten 100% control of this year, and we're going to
00:48make that happen starting this year.
00:50So construction of that will start this year.
00:52Our plans are very advanced.
00:55Funding is very advanced, and we're going to be doing that.
00:59He says he expects questions to be asked about where's the money going to come from for this project.
01:03Some might ask, well, how is it you're able to get funding for infrastructure-type projects, yet you are challenged
01:10to even hold some of our domestic tournaments?
01:13Well, the reality is that you are able to get funding for infrastructure projects, and that's not unique to the
01:19Caribbean.
01:19That's a global phenomenon.
01:20Infrastructure projects excite financiers, excite investors, etc., because they're of a more permanent nature.
01:27People can see what they put their money in physically as a building, as equipment, as training facilities, and so
01:34on.
01:35Based on his research, he indicated sport tourism has been growing exponentially, and he's not about to miss out on
01:40the cash train.
01:41In fact, the sports tourism market in the next five years is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion.
01:48Well, we certainly want to get at least a small piece of that.
01:51So we're going to be building out that high-performance center.
01:54It is going to be equipped with the very latest in high technology for cricket training, etc.
02:00It's going to be available not just for the West Indies team, obviously, which is our first port of call,
02:06but for teams around the world to come here and train.
02:09Sergio Dufour, TV6 Board.
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