By Neto Baptiste
The issues plaguing West Indies Cricket cannot be solved at the top with the senior players.
This is the belief of former fast bowler, Kenneth Benjamin, who said the crisis currently affecting West Indies cricket must be tackled at the grassroots level.
“A lot of the things we are seeing out there or not seeing needs to be sorted out at the youth level and at the franchise level, it is really hard for someone like a Darren Sammy or an Andre Coley to be really teaching skills and teaching people how to play cricket and how to perform at that level. I think they should be doing the planning and making sure people execute the skills they bring. We really need to make sure that when the guys leave from youth cricket to the academy and to the franchises they should be sound players,” he said.
West Indies were eliminated from the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers last week following a seven-wicket defeat against Scotland in the Super Six round of the qualifiers.

The West Indies were champions of the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, and runners-up in 1983; the 13th edition of the competition, to be held in India later this year, will be the first without the Caribbean team.
Benjamin said the work must be done within the respective territories to ensure players have a solid foundation on which to build when they graduate to the next level.
“They are the ones who have to make sure that the players have the quality that is required to make sure the players go and perform at the international level. I don’t think it is the job of the coaches who coach at the international level because they are more about fine-tuning and managing those abilities, talents and skills. Most of that work we are probably not seeing at the international level, should be done at the regional level,” he said.
West Indies had to play the World Cup Qualifiers because they finished ninth in the ODI Super League, and only the top eight teams gain direct entry to the 10-team tournament.