Getting priorities right

When Richard Pybus, the new director of cricket, goes about his promised review of the systems designed to produce international players for the West Indies, a good place to start would be with the Indian example.

Like every other, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) uses age-group and ‘A’ teams to expose likely talent to international competition. Up to a point, it has achieved its aim. The point at which it starts to unravel is the cross over from one to the other; it has been precisely the opposite with India.

Over the past four years, the West Indies have used over 70 hopefuls in Under-19 and ‘A’ teams. Of these, 14 have graduated to