By Neto Baptiste
Continued hesitation by those in authority to address the root causes of issues plaguing the development of cricket in the West Indies has left two former international fast bowlers disappointed and questioning the dedication by those charged with the responsibility of managing the game and its growth in the regional.
Former West Indies and Antiguan player Sir Andy Roberts, holder of 202 wickets in 47 Tests, expressed disappointment that since the ushering in of a new administration in March of 2019, a new and fresh approach to development has, in his opinion, not been implemented.
“I am disappointed that we didn’t tackle the cricket first instead of tackling other things because if we could put the cricket back with some respectability then I think the rest would fall into place but as long as we keep arguing and hitting our heads here and there about the state of the cricket, we are not going to go any place,” he said.
Sir Andy received support from another West Indies, regional and national stalwart, Sir Curtly Ambrose, who believes there are multiple issues plaguing West Indies cricket.
He said however, that foremost on his mind is grassroots cricket.
“West Indies cricket is in so much shambles at the moment that it is not just one or two things that need to done. I have said this before and I will say it again, that for us to get back to any sort of competitive level it must start from the youths because too many of our players we have now who play international cricket have so much deficiencies that it is difficult to fix those deficiencies when you’re on tour. So I think that the best way to get back to the top is to start with the youngsters where you could train them and educate them about cricket,” he said.
Sir Curtly claimed a total of 405 wickets in 98 Tests and 225 victims in 176 One Day International matches.