Powell made known his feelings and those of his sub-regional colleagues, following the just concluded inaugural Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Ministers of Sport Conference, held in Antigua.

The ministers are said to have recognized and hailed the contribution that various West Indies Cricket Board development programmes have been making towards the development of cricket in the sub-region.

Powell, who chaired the meeting, told a media conference following the Ministers Conference that the meeting was impressed and happy with the WICB programmes for kiddy cricket and grassroots cricket, the Sagicor High Performance Centre programme, the fitness regime. In addition he said the meeting was most impressed with the fight and passion which is being displayed by the West Indies team against Australia and the meeting commended the WICB in this regard.

WICB Director and President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association Enoch Lewis also commented at the media conference that the WICB was engaged in a strategic programme to ensure the standardization of training and preparation for players, coaches, umpires and other cricket officials across the region. Lewis noted that this has been to the benefit of cricket throughout the OECS region and the wider Caribbean.

The OECS Sports Ministers Conference was organized collaboratively by the Leeward Islands Cricket Association, the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control and it was hosted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda at the Royal Antiguan Resort on Sunday April 22 and Monday April 23.

Following the meeting all national cricket associations under LICA and WICBC committed to ensuring that their bodies are duly incorporated as legal entities.

Another critical declaration was that with the support of governments and other key stakeholders, the administrative structures of national and territorial associations be reformed. The reformation process is to include the establishment of secretariats for the two territorial associations and offices, complete with paid personnel and financial support, for the national associations.