Sir Curtly Ambrose says it’s a shame West Indies miss out on Champions Trophy

West Indies failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy after they didn’t manage to finish in the top 8 teams in the ODI team rankings. The West Indies’ won the 2004 edition of the Champions Trophy when they beat home side England by two wickets with seven balls to spare at The Oval.

What was even shocking for the country who won the very first edition of the World Cup is that a team like Bangladesh who entered the scenes much later qualified ahead of them in the Champions Trophy, as per their current form in International cricket. Curtly Ambrose revealed West Indies’ failure to qualify for this summer’s Champions Trophy in England and Wales was a bitter pill to swallow for the Islanders.

Ambrose, further admitted that it was tough for him personally to accept the fact that West Indies were not among the top eight teams in the ODI rankings, which resulted in them failing to qualify for the Champions Trophy for the first time since it began in 1998

Ambrose is saddened

“It’s really a shame,” the fast bowler told The Royal Gazette. “It is sad. I never thought the time would come when we, as a West Indies team, would miss a Champions Trophy.”

He further added, “It’s not a nice feeling at all, but that’s the way it is. We are not playing as well as we can so it’s up to us as a nation, and the cricketers themselves, to bring back this tradition we have to get West Indies cricket near the top again.”

The 53-year-old believes that the team does have the potential to trouble the top sides if not for the inconsistency shown by the current crop of players.

“Potential and talent has never been the question,” he said. “It’s just we’ve not kept the results that we want. From time to time there have been some good performances, but we’re not consistent enough.

“To move up the rankings you have to be consistent with both games and with both teams and until we start to do that we will remain the way we are at the moment. We just need to be more consistent,” said the disappointed West Indian legend.