Caricom leaders should act to save West Indies cricket

Dear Editor,

The West Indies cricket team under the captaincies of Rohan Kanhai and subsequently Clive Lloyd and even Viv Richards and Richie Richardson consisted of quality players who when appointed rose to the occasion and remained competitive until they bowed out. They were proud ambassadors of the Caribbean and its people. They did everything humanely possible to keep or maintain the Caribbean at the highest level. We must give kudos to those people.

The contemporary cricketers are of no match for those of yesteryear. They are not proud of themselves, moreso of the people that they represent.

They are not gusty or bold; they lack the spirit to fight and also the competitive spirit. They no longer promote the Caribbean but some other hidden agenda.

We, the dedicated Caribbean peoples, have to arrest the situation before it reaches a point of no return.

1. Dismiss the entire Board for having West Indies cricket languish at the bottom of world cricket for more than a decade.

2.Dismiss the current crop of cricketers save for Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy, who in spite of the mediocrity of the others are showing that they can be competitive at all levels.

3. Appoint Darren Sammy Vice-Captain and Dwayne Bravo Captain and let them be the architects of a new-born West Indies team.

4. Complement Bravo and Sammy with the best talent from the under 19 and 23 teams. In the beginning we will fail, but not as dismally as we are doing now. In about two years time I am certain that we will be on course for reaping the success that we deserve.

5. Finally, this is a Caribbean thing and the disgrace meted out to the West Indies cricket team is an embarrassment to all West Indians, including prime ministers, presidents, etc. So on behalf of all cricket-loving West Indians, I call upon the Caricom leaders to act with haste and stop a potential disaster (losing Test cricket status) from becoming a reality. My feeling is that if the Caricom leaders have some degree of pride and shame and the disgraceful team performance hurts them,  they will put their act together and do what’s right for the Caribbean.

Yours faithfully,
Colin Greaves