Former Test skipper Carl Hooper was disappointed after West Indies’ massive lose 2nd Test against Australia and called for urgent administrative changes at the top.
Hooper also warned that after nearly 20 years of decline, worse was to come for the one-time rulers of world cricket.
They haven’t beaten Australia in any Test since May 2003 and their last series win over the Aussies was in 1992/93.
“No, I don’t think we’ve hit rock bottom because every time I think we have, we keep going lower,” Hooper told Media after the Test.
“It’s getting more and more embarrassing — I’m hurt today.
“I’ve never played in a West Indies side that has been bowled out for under 100. Just never.
“I mean your personal pride means you go out and fight.
“We’re not fighting to qualify in major tournaments. How much lower can we go?”
The demoralizing series in Australia follows the T20 World Cup earlier this year where the West Indies failed to hold a high enough ranking to qualify automatically for the main draw, and were beaten by Scotland and Ireland to fail to qualify for the Super 12.
Hooper captained West Indies in 22 Tests in the early 2000s.
The spinning all-rounder scored more than 5,000 runs and took more than 100 wickets and 100 catches in both Tests and ODIs in a 16-year international career.
Over his career he went from part of a dominant West Indies side to one that struggled for big periods.
However, he told Media the current side was at a lower ebb than his era ever had and pointed the finger firmly at administrators.
“When we were dominant, you hardly knew the directors. Today you’ve got 16 directors making cricketing decisions,” Hooper said.
“Since 1993 we’ve struggled and certainly judging from the results, there’s no policies or systems that have been implemented that is changing the downward course we’re on.”
Hooper said administration changes were the only thing that hadn’t been tried yet.
“We’ve changed captains, we’ve changed personnel, we’ve changed coaches — [it] hasn’t worked,” he said.
“So maybe let’s go a little bit higher and get people in these positions that can lead us in the right direction.”
The defeat ended the reign of West Indies head coach Phil Simmons, who announced his intention to quit after his team’s disastrous recent Twenty20 World Cup campaign when it exited in the first round.
Simmons led the West Indies to victory in the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, and then returned as coach for a second stint in 2019.
If the Waste Indies were expecting to play better then why would the board allow a dead-beat coach to travel with the team? It seems to me like players and coaches from certain countries are more preferred than more qualified players from other countries. The board and the selectors needs to look at themselves in the mirror and tell themselves we have to look at players from different countries and not just Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica, yes I said it.