Just a day after the West Indies’ poor showing in a Test match, the president of the Caribbean cricket board is looking to the past for answers.
WICB president Kishore Shallow said Tuesday he will ask Caribbean cricket legends like Viv Richards and Brian Lara to help the West Indian team after scoring just 27 runs in their second innings against Australia.
The batting failure continues a worrying trend. The West Indian Test team has not won a series since 2022-23 when they beat Zimbabwe in the Caribbean. Since then they have drawn three and lost five series. Most recently they were swept 3-0 at home against Australia.
Shallow said, The result is painful, not only because of how we lost, but because of what West Indies Cricket has always meant to our people: spirit, identity and hope.
Many of us, including the players, will have sleepless nights because of this loss. We are in a rebuilding phase, investing in the next generation and trying to bring back the spirit that made West Indies cricket a global force.
In the late 1970s the Caribbean side was seen as the unofficial world champions, a title they held through the 1980s thanks to batsmen like Richards and bowlers like Curtly Ambrose.
Now Richards will be part of the rescue plan. Shallow said he called an emergency meeting to review the Australia Test series.
Some of the fast bowling against Australia was like the good old days when West Indies’ pacemen dominated cricket but batting issues hurt the team.
To help with the discussions I have asked three of our best batsmen ever: Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Brian Lara, Shallow said. They will join past stars Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Desmond Haynes and Ian Bradshaw.
Lloyd, 80, captained the West Indies and led the team’s success. He scored 19 centuries in his 110-Test career which ended in 1984. Richards, 73, scored 24 centuries in 121 Test matches.
Lara, who retired in 2006, scored 34 centuries in 131 Tests. He holds the record for the most runs in a Test innings against England in 2004. It is the only quadruple century in Test cricket.Not sure if they will help in the shorter ODI. This year the West Indies lost to England in both formats. On the plus side the Caribbean team drew an ODI series and won one in Ireland.
Shallow said he is serious about the Test team.
This isn’t just for show, Shallow said. These men helped create our best times and their ideas will be helpful as we plan the next phase of our cricket.
