'100 things to improve' - Cricket West Indies to work on roadmap to revive West Indian cricket

Cricket West Indies recently held a two-day emergency meeting in Trinidad after it identified about '100 things to improve' for the betterment of West Indian cricket. The committee included the likes of Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and current head coach Daren Sammy among others.

"We have identified a list of about a hundred things that we have to improve, but probably among the top five: facilities at every level for our cricketers; practice pitches across the region; the quality of our domestic tournaments, there's definitely a skills deficiency at various levels that don't get highlighted till they reach international levels and then you see the glaring deficiencies vis-a-vis our international counterparts, which again is systemic," Chris Dehring, the CWI chief executive was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Chairperson of CWI's Cricket Strategy and Officiating Committee Enoch Lewis wants the youngsters rising up the ranks to be educated about the legacy of West Indian cricket.

“When you’re 18 or 19 and getting your first call-up, you’re just trying to survive at that level — but we want our players to do more than survive. We want them to feel the pride of representing a legacy built by people who fought for equality, dignity, and excellence, often in the face of adversity,” stated Lewis.

CWI's Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe shed light on the declining quality of cricketers coming out of the schools of the island nation and highlighted the importance of monitoring players from a very young age.

“Many schools no longer play cricket at all, or the standard of primary and secondary school cricket has deteriorated to the point where we’re not seeing the same quality of players come through. We’ve agreed on the importance of tracking players from those very early stages — primary school, grassroots programmes — so we can really understand our catchment area and the talent pool we’ll be drawing from,” commented Bascombe.

Unfortunate a young man will call an end to his international career: Lara

Lara emphasised on the need of adapting to the modern player's needs and aspirations, highlighting the change cricket has undergone as a sport in the last decade due to the advent of commercial, short-format leagues.

“The game has now been very much commercialised. The franchise system is definitely in the mind of every young person and every parent as well. You see what’s happening around the world with the IPL, the American cricket league (MLC) and much else. The motivational factor we have to tap into: what motivates youngsters today? It might not be just representing West Indies 365 days of the year. It might be playing in an IPL or a BBL or something else,” remarked Lara.

The legendary batter even touched upon the premature retirement of Nicholas Pooran, emphasising upon the need to retain such talents to ensure the betterment of the sport.

“It’s unfortunate (that) a young man at the age of 29, like Nicholas Pooran, will call an end to his international career. Find out why these things are happening and how we can stem that sort of situation, and we get the best players to play for West Indies. Australia, India and England – and these countries benefit from wholeheartedness from their players, the passion that they have playing for their country,” he added.

It has been a hard time for West Indies as far as their recent past is concerned. They did not qualify for the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy due to an inferior ICC ranking in the ODI format. The Windies, who are currently playing a series against Pakistan, are also coming on the back of an 0-8 drubbing against Australia (0-3 in Tests, 0-5 in T20Is).