By Neto Baptiste
Former West Indies captain and legendary batsman Sir Viv Richards has questioned whether some players fully understand the legacy of West Indies cricket and what it means to represent the region.
His questions follow the team’s “disappointing” early exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup being held in Australia. The two-time champions were eliminated from the qualifying round following Group B defeats against Scotland and Ireland in the qualifying round.
Sir Viv, while speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, reminded that former players like himself, worked hard to establish the region as one of the top cricketing units in the world and that others who follow should also do the same.
“There is a legacy where this whole thing is concerned and maybe that’s why some of these players are currently on show [are able to play]. So, there are a lot of things to represent and I just think that’s lacking. The West Indian fans deserve much more because we have had so many issues like the pandemic [Covid-19] and we needed something to uplift us and there are times when we look to our sportsmen and women to do that and presently, the West Indies team is basically lacking where that is concerned,” he said.
The Antiguan went on to highlight the long running issue involving players often opting out of representing the West Indies for the more lucrative T20 leagues across the globe.
“What I find is that there are some who … want to do what they like in terms of the contracts that they would have had with the various franchises, and come back to automatically get in. You have individuals who have been performing … and not, in my opinion, getting [an opportunity] because of these individuals or these favourites. I think we should have found a way earlier to nullify that,” he said.
A destructive batsman in his day, Sir Viv scored a total of 8,540 runs in 121 Tests and another 6,721 in 187 ODI matches. He also had a total of 36,212 First Class runs.