By Neto Baptiste
Iconic former West Indies fast bowler, Sir Andy Roberts, believes that with hard working and dedicated players, the regional squad could once again become a dominant force in world cricket.
He however agrees with countryman and legendary fast bowler, Sir Curtly Ambrose, who opined two weeks ago that this will not happen in short order, given the number of issues plaguing West Indies cricket from a development standpoint.
“I don’t think that we are going to see the glory days right now, but with hard work, and if you have a lot of committed players, it can come back but it cannot come back based upon the same lackadaisical way where we are approaching our development, it cannot come back,” he said.
The Antiguan, who has been critical of CWI’s Professional Cricket League (PCL) where regional players are paid to compete, Sir Andy said players and officials must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices that will propel their cricket to the next level.
“We have to have more focused people who are willing to go and make sacrifices so they can become better cricketers and if it was working out you’ll wouldn’t be having this squabble about who should be given retainer contracts. Where our cricket is today, we should be aiming to have a brighter future, but do you see the level of cricket we have today that we can say we are going to have a brighter future right now?” he said.
Spanning almost two decades, the West Indies under the leadership of Sir Clive Lloyd and Sir Vivian Richards, was then the top team in the world in both Test and ODIs. West Indies won the ODI (Prudential World Cup) in 1975 and 1979 but have not won the tournament since. The regional side is now ranked eighth on Tests and ODIs and tenth in T20 cricket despite being the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2016 and 2012.