Battle for the soul of West Indies cricket
AHMEDABAD: A day out from the opening Test between India and West Indies, Cricket West Indies (CWI) held a long press conference about the state of the game in the Caribbean. The press meet, held in Antigua, was to announce reforms 'coming out of the emergency cricket strategy committee' conducted by the board in August following the 3-0 loss to Australia in the home Tests.One of the challenges faced by the committee pertained to the 'limited revenue share and financial constraints' granted to West Indies cricket under the existing agreement drawn out by the International Cricket Council (ICC).Yep, it's that old chestnut again. One can never really be sure if West Indies' myriad cricketing problems — both on and off the field — will be solved if they get more funding but what's sure is that it will give them a fighting chance of resolving some of the issues.When Roston Chase was asked that question in the post match press conference following the first Test in Ahmedabad, he became intimate with the financial struggles in that part of the world."I think the systems in the Caribbean are a bit poor in terms of training facilities and stuff," the captain said. "I am not using that as an excuse or something to hide behind for poor performances that we've been putting out lately. I still think that the onus is on the players to find some way to churn up runs and wickets and stuff."Some of the raw numbers behind their recent below-par run raises serious questions about their aspirations. They have beaten Australia and Pakistan in the longest format of the game since the beginning of 2024 but it only papers over the cracks."What I would say is, yes, there is obviously a struggle in the Caribbean for finances. So whatever help we can get, if they are planning to get the help, I hope that we do get it so that we could strengthen the infrastructure for cricket."They will be grateful if the ICC — or the Big Three — set up a central Test fund to help the so-called lesser nations address financial issues when playing the game's longest format. Internally, CWI has tried to come up with a novel initiative to address the financial disparities between them and the other nations. While the official press release was quiet on this, informally at least there have been suggestions that Brian Lara has said he's open to the idea of engaging the cricketing community in India to encourage investment in the legacy of WI cricket.They need investment across multiple layers. Here's Chase. "Yeah, that is some of the infrastructure problems that we do have," he said. "The pitches in the Caribbean are not really batsman-friendly. So guys don't really bat for long periods and score those big scores. And then, too, the outfields in the Caribbean are really slow. When you hit the ball in the gaps, you probably end up struggling to get two. Those are just some of the problems that we are faced with in the Caribbean."That's why you see guys averaging so low. If you look at the past series we had against Australia, I think that was the first time I've ever played an international series where a batsman never scored a hundred in three matches. Obviously, we had a poor batting display. This has been something that has been plaguing us for the past two series."It's kind of the reason why the batters average in the high 20s or the low 30s, even the ones deemed worthy of the maroon cap. The all-rounder, however, did say they could have batted across both innings of the first Test. "We gifted some of the wickets too easily," he said. "For me, it was a bit of rough and some balls were spinning up the rough. But there weren't any devils on the wicket. I still thought that it was a wicket that you could stand up and bat on as shown by the Indian batters."He will hoping the second Test in New Delhi, beginning on October 10, will bring better returns. From a wider perspective, though, the struggle is real. And there are now large scale efforts to arrest what looks like a slide without any bottom.
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