Can a complete overhaul of the WICB save West Indies cricket?

[Arham_PakFan]

A few days ago Viv Richards criticised the WICB and said some members of the board think of themselves as bigger than the players out on the field.

We have all seen the antics of the WICB over the years,from ousting their best LO players to removing their coach a few days before the start of an important overseas tour.A complete overhaul of the system is probably the only way now to save West Indies from becoming like Zimbabwe.

 

[Ph_11]

A few days ago Viv Richards criticised the WICB and said some members of the board think of themselves as bigger than the players out on the field.

We have all seen the antics of the WICB over the years,from ousting their best LO players to removing their coach a few days before the start of an important overseas tour.A complete overhaul of the system is probably the only way now to save West Indies from becoming like Zimbabwe.

Cricket may be big for sub continent but Basketball is the real thing. Cricket will never be back in WI like before.

ECB is accelrating the demise of world cricket. Instead of popularizing T20 they want to go back to dark ages and play old mans cricket.

Another thing that helps WI is IPL but ECB is against that too. Cricket in WI will keep on going down.

 

[Markhor]

Caricom, the Caribbean equivalent of the European Union, has said that the WICB is antiquated and needs to be disbanded. However that's like getting turkeys to vote for Christmas.

There is some hope for change as Jimmy Grave and Jimmy Adams are the new CEO and Director of Cricket who are genuine and honest people, but WICB have driven many such individuals away due to their ineptitude. They want to compromise with the rebel players by introducing lucrative white ball contracts like England and New Zealand.

They'd be on a sizeable retainer which would allow them to play the entirety of the IPL and CPL but otherwise gives the WICB first refusal over their services, and the right to manage the players' workloads. With such security, players would be less inclined to play in every possible T20 competition.

Right now they have a ridiculously unwieldy selection policy introduced by our former coach Richard Pybus who has nearly destroyed WI cricket when he was their Director of Cricket. The policy is if you do not appear in the domestic 50 over competition (which clashes with the BBL and pays a pittance), you are ineligible for ODI selection. But the likes of Narine, Sammy, Badree have ALREADY paid the dues with the small matter of TWO World Cups. Whether Graves/Adams can get the board to compromise on this remains to be seen.

That wouldn't be a panacea for West Indian cricket, but at least it'd get their best players back in the national team.

There are promising young talent too having won the U19 World Cup. Players like Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Shannon Gabriel and Evin Lewis are no mugs. Jason Mohammad is 31 but has been around the domestic scene for some time and looks a handy middle-order bat. They've got to also reconcile with Darren Bravo, you cannot have a batsman of that quality out of the team because the Chairman's ego is hurt over his tweets.

 

[Markhor]

Cricket may be big for sub continent but Basketball is the real thing. Cricket will never be back in WI like before.

Another thing that helps WI is IPL but ECB is against that too. Cricket in WI will keep on going down.

People aren't going to watch a team scraping 8th and 9th every year minus its star players. West Indian public are thoroughly disillusioned by the antics of their Board.

Even then, tickets are sold out for the ODI in Guyana tomorrow and crowds were still decent during the T20 series. CPL attendances are excellent. As in most parts of the world, its Test crowds that are suffering.

As for interest amongst youngsters, WI won U19 World Cup and the Women's World Cup only last year so clearly there are still youngsters wanting to participate in the sport.

ECB is accelrating the demise of world cricket. Instead of popularizing T20 they want to go back to dark ages and play old mans cricket.

I don't know if it escaped your attention but ECB are going to introduce a franchise T20 competition in a few years so even they've jumped on the gravy train.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Caricom, the Caribbean equivalent of the European Union, has said that the WICB is antiquated and needs to be disbanded. However that's like getting turkeys to vote for Christmas.

There is some hope for change as Jimmy Grave and Jimmy Adams are the new CEO and Director of Cricket who are genuine and honest people, but WICB have driven many such individuals away due to their ineptitude. They want to compromise with the rebel players by introducing lucrative white ball contracts like England and New Zealand.

They'd be on a sizeable retainer which would allow them to play the entirety of the IPL and CPL but otherwise gives the WICB first refusal over their services, and the right to manage the players' workloads. With such security, players would be less inclined to play in every possible T20 competition.

Right now they have a ridiculously unwieldy selection policy introduced by our former coach Richard Pybus who has nearly destroyed WI cricket when he was their Director of Cricket. The policy is if you do not appear in the domestic 50 over competition (which clashes with the BBL and pays a pittance), you are ineligible for ODI selection. But the likes of Narine, Sammy, Badree have ALREADY paid the dues with the small matter of TWO World Cups. Whether Graves/Adams can get the board to compromise on this remains to be seen.

That wouldn't be a panacea for West Indian cricket, but at least it'd get their best players back in the national team.

There are promising young talent too having won the U19 World Cup. Players like Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Shannon Gabriel and Evin Lewis are no mugs. Jason Mohammad is 31 but has been around the domestic scene for some time and looks a handy middle-order bat. They've got to also reconcile with Darren Bravo, you cannot have a batsman of that quality out of the team because the Chairman's ego is hurt over his tweets.

Brilliant analysis.

Darren Bravo is probably the best Test batsman since Chanderpaul for the Windies.But as you said,their chairmans ego has been hurt which could result in him being axed for a long long time.