Cricketing legend, Sir Clive Lloyd has called on cricket’s leading nations to provide the West Indies team with more opportunities to compete, thereby aiding Cricket West Indies (CWI) in generating much-needed revenue, which can be used to develop the sport in the region.
“It’s time for us to be looked after,” declared Lloyd during an appearance on Mason and Guest Cricket Show on the Voice of Barbados.
Sir Clive, regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time, made the comments while reflecting on the West Indies’ recent historic Test victory against Australia, led by emerging talent Shamar Joseph.
The legendary batsman said when the contributions of past West Indies teams to cricket were taken into consideration, they merited more than just two Test matches per tour.
“We should either be playing three Test matches or five. We’re not Afghanistan or Bangladesh. We’ve been in the ICC setup for nearly 90 years, so we are a frontline team,” Sir Clive said
“When India and all these teams were not doing well, I didn’t see them sort of playing two Test matches. We travelled 12,000 miles for two Test matches.”
Reflecting on West Indies’ golden era, Sir Clive recalled their back-to-back World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979, and their 1983 runner-up finish.
Australia (6), India (2), and the West Indies (2), are the only nations to win the ICC Men’s World Cup multiple times.
Sir Clive, nicknamed the ‘Super Cat’, also recalled his team’s remarkable unbeaten streak of 26 Tests and 11 consecutive victories, marking his milestone as the first West Indian to reach 100 Test caps.
“If you were 17-years old, you would have not seen the West Indies lose. We have so much to be proud of. I don’t like how they’re treating us. When we were in the ascendancy, I didn’t see anybody saying that West Indies should get more money. We were giving other countries money,” he contended.
He reminisced about a time when top teams like India, England, and Australia, eagerly sought matches against the West Indies, as he doubled down on the need for reciprocated support.
Earlier this month, CWI’s chief executive officer, Johnny Grave urged the boards of India, England, and Australia to collaborate closely with the ICC and take decisive action to reform the economics of Test cricket.
Grave’s remarks were prompted by criticism directed at his board and Cricket South Africa for fielding inexperienced Test squads in recent tours to Australia and New Zealand, respectively.
“The revenue-share model is completely broken,” Grave said. “If we really want to operate as a cricketing community we are only as strong as the weakest team, and we’ve got to change the mindset of bilateral cricket.”
“CWI has spent over two million dollars sending teams to Australia in the last four months and whilst Cricket Australia has received all the economic benefits from those series, we’ve seen zero dollars back.”