West Indies cricket has hit rock bottom

LEADING West Indies cricket writer has hit out at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and condemned their inability to develop talent in the Caribbean.

Tony Becca, contributing editor at The Gleaner, who has covered the sport for over 30 years, is of the opinion that the level of the sport in the region is at an all-time low.
Becca, in his recent column, wrote: “West Indies cricket is now a disappointment to the West Indies people because of the West Indies Cricket Board, because of its failure to concentrate on the game, to find out what is wrong with West Indian players, how they can help them to develop and to deal with the situation.”

Becca, like many, feels that too many foreign coaches have been given the task of reviving the team.

“There is no doubt that in some areas, the West Indies need assistance from elsewhere, but definitely not in cricket, not when the West Indies have produced some of world's greatest cricketers, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, and when the West Indies boast arguably the greatest team of all time.

“Instead of looking inwards for a West Indian to solve the problem of West Indies cricket, however, the powers that be, the Board members, except for giving a West Indian an occasional chance, always turn to a foreigner to wield the magic wand. Maybe it is all about being foreign and about being white.”

Barbados-born Ottis Gibson recently stepped down as coach of the regional side, who are currently playing a home Test series against Bangladesh before taking on India in five one-day internationals on the sub- continent next month.

Becca continued: “Once upon a time, West Indies cricket was the pride and joy of the West Indian people, far and wide.
“Today, it is almost the opposite: it is almost the embarrassment of the people, all of them, wherever they reside.

“It has nothing to do with the fact that West Indies cricket no longer produces or possesses the great cricketers which it once did, it no longer wins more matches than it loses and that, obviously, it is no longer the best in the world as it was once.”

The West Indies plethora of great players once made them box-office. That is no longer the case, according to Becca.
“For years Australia never knew what it was to win against them (West Indies), and once they were the biggest attraction in the game, from Lord's to Melbourne.”
FIRST PUBLISHED HERE