West Indies cricket needs complete overhauling

Tue Feb 03, 2015

Editor: There is no doubt that West Indies cricket is going from bad to worse — even the most ardent crickets fans are fed up with both the administrators and the cricketers…. Two or three decades ago, we were the world champions — today, we are at almost the bottom of the ladder. What a shame!{{more}}

Our current players are more concerned with dollars and cents rather than with playing for pride and the love of the game. Moreover T/20 seems to be “killing” test cricket mainly because of the mighty dollar and the spectators prefer to see the shorter version of the game, rather than to witness a five-day match.

Our players prefer to play T/20 matches for IPL and other sponsors because they are well paid. Keiron Powell for instance is a top T/20 player and never played a Test match. Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith are outstanding T/20 players and are being overlooked for Tests and star batsman Chris Gayle is now more recognized as a T/20 blaster than an accomplished Test player.

Andre Russell, who has been described as one of the best all-rounders in the world, prefers to play T/20 rather than Tests.

Despite the fact the West Indies have outstanding T/20 players, as a team, we are still at the bottom of the ladder and one wonders what is the problem. The administrators were blamed and there was a complete breakdown between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board, which ended up in a disgraceful spectacle in Dharamsala, India, when the players refused to play in the midst of a tour, and as a result, the Indian Cricket Board is claiming a US$42 million financial loss as a result of the aborted tour.

Fans feels that there should be a complete restructure. St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is calling for the removal of the WICB President Dave Cameron, because he failed to honour his agreement. The entire Board needs to be overhauled; new selectors should be named and the disgruntled players should be banned for life. We do not need three captains and former outstanding West Indies players should be tapped to be administrators.

Oscar Ramjeet