West Indies’ downfall in the game has taken the cricket world by shock and disappointment. West Indies have been performing poorly in international cricket for quite some time now and they reached a new low last month when they failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup.
Several former cricketers including the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir openly expressed their disappointment over West Indies cricket’s present situation.
In the wake of the disastrous failure to qualify for the World Cup, the cricketing world has been busy discussing the possible reasons behind it. Many believe that there is a lack of passion and pride among the current West Indian players while representing the team.
In recent years, several big names from the Caribbean have decided against playing for the West Indies in order to play franchise cricket.
However, former South Africa star AB de Villiers does not disagree with the reason.
Speaking about West Indies’ situation in cricket, the South African AB de Villiers stated that even the mighty Australian side of the late 90s and early 2000s faced plenty of turmoil, but it did not affect their performance on the field.
He also suggested that the West Indies team should be abolished, and individual islands should be given associate member status by the ICC.
“I don’t agree with that tweet at all. I don’t think the issue for the West Indies has anything to do with passion or pride. Look at the 90s, the early 2000s – the mighty Australian team. I know for a fact that they never really got along well. There was a lot of turmoil in that environment, in the change room. Not a lot of players liked each other,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
“I know it because I have spoken to some of the players that were there at that time. But look how they performed on the field. It had nothing to do with pride or passion or whether they were best friends or not. The minute they stepped across the boundary rope, they made it happen. The fire just got turned on,” AB de Villiers added.
Speaking further, AB de Villiers opened up on West Indies’ decline in the game. The former cricketer urged West Indies to put behind their differences and play as a team.
“In my opinion, the West Indies need to pull together as a team. I don’t know if the issues are from the top or from the grassroots level or whether there’s maybe just not enough talent at the moment there,” he said.
The decline in WI cricket started, way back, to when the MCC decided to limit “overseas” players to two per team. WI, India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand were the “Nations” from which players were hired and each of these were affected, one way or the other, by that decision . League Cricket moulded WI players, who possessed “cricket potential” into the Test Cricket Material. I made mention of it at the time and, in discussions with cricket enthusists (ardent WI cricket fans), opinied that, if WI Cricket Administrators do not quickly find a suitable alternative, the performance of our players will be adversly affected. They never addressed the issue and, with IPL coming into the equation. what we are now experiencing is exactly what I predected.
On point. The great Windians of the 70s and 80s honed their skills in county cricket. Gordon Greenidge was snapped by Lloyd from the jaws of England as he was qualified to play for both countries. I used to read the UK newpapers and writers used to say the reason WI destroyed England was that they were trained in England and they have to put a stop to it. Hence the 2 overseas players rule. Other rules contemplated by them is to limit the run-up so it would stifle the WI fast bowlers. At one point Warwickshire had at least 4 Windians: Kanhai, Gibbs, Kallicharran and Murray. Sobers at Notts had a few Windians on the roster. The real decline happened under Richardson, Lara and Hooper.
Stop blaming the players. They don’t administer W I cricket. The problem lies with the Board. Imagine the administrative cost of a Board of 18 individuals.For the better part of the last two decades they have been sucking the financial resources that are needed to develop West Indies cricket and to pay a decent wage. The chicken have come home to roost.
We need to reduce the board and spend on developing cricket and looking after the players.
I feel that the decline I. West of ndies cricket is due to infighting within he administrators and the players themselves. This business about which country they come from is such a stupid thing. In the past West Indies cricket was so good because all the players were
together and played as the West Indies not for the country they come from. This animosity between the supporters of guyana and Trinidad is not good for the team
In my mind it’s Team Wes Indies and I will support them forever win or lose. I am a
Guyanese living in England since 1968 but my team of s West Indies forever.
No national pride playing for the West Indies. The WICB is politically motivated and has biased selections and does not reward players for merits.