Cricket West Indies long road to revival as legends join forces after historic low

One proposal, revealed by Lloyd, is to request “special dispensation” from the International Cricket Council — additional financial assistance in recognition of the West Indies’ cricketing legacy. CWI chief executive Chris Dehring said around 100 improvement areas were identified, with the top priorities including upgrading facilities at all levels, improving practice pitches, strengthening domestic tournaments, and addressing skill gaps that often become apparent only at the international stage. Plans also include establishing a regional high-performance centre, setting up academies across the Caribbean, and documenting “the West Indies way” of cricket to instill it from a young age.

The urgency for change was underlined by the humiliating 27 all-out against Australia in Kingston earlier this year — the second-lowest total in Test history — followed by a poor white-ball run of just two wins in ten matches.

According to CWI chief executive Chris Dehring, “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.”

Brian Lara reflected on the larger picture. “It’s been that case for years, where we are not on the same level-playing field as other playing countries. Back in the days when skill was the prominent factor, we excelled; we were the best team in the world. But the game has evolved, and technology and analytics, and we now have to see a new way of finding ourselves back to being very competitive. I said not a level-playing field because a lot of the countries are far ahead in these sorts of areas. The skill factor of the game is still there, but not as prominent as it was in the past.”

“It’s a long road; it’s not going to happen tomorrow. It was not about the 27 runs. If it was 57 or 107, will we be feeling any better? I don’t think so. It was the fact that we’ve got something to address, and for us to get back on top, or to be a competitive nation in world cricket, we’ve got to address these situations and address them shortly, quickly, and hopefully we can reap the benefits in the years to come,” Lara added.