Several current West Indies players had struggled with fitness issues. Among them are talented players like Evin Lewis, Oshane thomas.
Former West Indies batsman and Jamaican captain Nehemiah Perry has joined a radio program called Mason and Guest, stressing that some professional cricketers around the Caribbean are not interested in their fitness.
Earlier, some commentators in the region pointed out the lack of a regulatory fitness program for athletes. According to Perry, they get more junk food than they need without monitoring their condition.
“I don’t think enough work is being put into our cricketers and our cricketers are not properly monitoring themselves. They eat anything they want, they eat KFC, they eat Burger King, they eat Chinese, they don’t have a proper program.”
Several of the strongest players today have been dropped from the squad due to failing a fitness test and being overweight. He emphasized the need to eat a balanced diet to become a top cricket player.
“A part of the program is nutrition. You have to be eating properly to be a top-class cricketer because your body is going to need it, because, it brings the best out of your body. Rehydration, you go to the beach, you swim, you do all of these things, you follow a specific program.”
The topic of fitness has been a hot topic in other international teams in recent times as well. In the Caribbean, the issue came to the fore again after the women’s Twenty20 Blaze, in which Jamaica crowned champions.
“Players aren’t following that, they go on their phones and they go and sit in the dressing room and do nothing and then they go home and put on weight. How can you be a professional cricketer and a be putting on weight? You are not supposed to be putting on weight.”
Any sportsman could eat any food they wish to eat, wether it’s junk or otherwise.
He must be disciplined enough to put in place a plan to burn those calories.
Take a look at some of the successful athletes around the world.
Football, athletic, cricket, swimming any discipline, you name it, they achieve their goal.
A man cannot dream himself a character, he has to hammer and chiesel himself one.
Who died and made him a doctor? These players are not talented enough to play first class cricket they are good enough to show off in the CPL and that’s it.
Sports science includes fitness training, and yes, Nutrition. To the extent that our players and our coaches place little or no emphasis of this aspect of the sport, we place ourselves at a marked disadvantage.