Batting legend Brian Lara has criticised the West Indies cricket board for not doing enough to ensure the facilities are up to standards at the grassroots and academy level and feels money alone cannot trigger a dramatic turnaround in the team’s fortunes as far as Test cricket goes.
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West Indies suffered a crushing defeat in the opening match of the three-game series against England. At Lord’s, West Indies were bowled out for 121 and conceded a 250-run lead. In the second innings, the visitors managed 136-all out with England winning by an innings and 114 runs.
“If you put 100 million, 200 million dollars into the West Indies’ bank account, is it going to change the way we play the game? I’m not sure. We are not harnessing the talent that we have,” said Lara to BBC World Service’s Stumped podcast.
West Indies are currently at eighth place in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings and failed to qualify for the semi-finals of 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup it co-hosted with the USA. It is a far cry from the time they were a dominant force in the cricketing world in the 1970s and 1980s.
They also failed to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup for the first time in their history.
Apart from players opting to play more of white-ball leagues, cricket has also been overtaken by other sports like Athletics in the Caribbean, thus affecting the talent pool. “Obviously, cricket has been diluted by the number of different sports and different opportunities for kids, but I still believe that corporate West Indies have got to get involved.
“The West Indies Cricket Board hasn’t done the right job in attracting these sponsors to ensure that at least grassroots, but also the academy, all the different things, the facilities, are up to standard. I think these things are very, very important,” added Lara.
With IANS Inputs
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