In the July Test in Jamaica, after Australia bundled out the West Indies for a mere 27, past greats including Brian Lara, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd were brought together for an emergency meeting to assess the way forward for the team.
About three months later, West Indies capitulated once again, this time in India, losing the first Test by an innings and 140 runs.
The dismal show once again triggered the debate about the fall of West Indies cricket, and Lara, who spoke to THE WEEK on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards, shed a little light on what that emergency meeting entailed.
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“We discussed the state of West Indies cricket. The aberration of scoring 27, nobody wants to do that, but that was not just the issue. The issue lies very deep, and it's something that I would say Cricket West Indies is working on in terms of finding a better footing, in terms of the foundation of the game, how we grow the game, the facilities that we have to improve on, and finding a way for our cricketers to be a lot more competitive.”
One of the ways to do that, he said, was to see what could be done about franchise cricket. It is a well-documented fact that West Indies cricketers form a huge percentage of the freelance cricketers who take part in T20 franchise leagues across the globe.
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“There's also an issue, of course, with franchise cricket and the way how they pull some of the players away, weakening our strength. We have to work on that. Australia is able to do it, England is able to do it, to keep their players loyal to their country. We have to find a way to do that."
"There's not pointing any fingers at anybody, it's just that we've got to come together as a team, as administrators, as coaches, as players, and really and truly, if you have West Indies cricket at heart, you will find a way to move forward.”
The West Indies take on India in the second Test of the series on October 10 in Delhi.
