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No Windward or Leeward Islands tournaments, who sees who?
I saw a Barbados team playing against Dominica, and it is a shame that Dominica doesn't have its a team in all regional competitions.
All Islands should be represented, Sir Frank must be looking down and shaking his head.

In reply to openning

and smiling

CWI Prezzie is a dottie

Director of cricket is a dottie

Dottie Sammy is in charge of everything

test players - Louis, Carty, Athanaze, Hodge, Al Jo

De islands getting most of the international cricket

In reply to Narper

Revolution!!

In reply to openning

Tell we about Everton Weekes Jr nuh

In reply to imusic

The great Sir Everton the batsman with the second highest test average by a west indian, the only test batsman that scored five consecutive hundreds, his sons are not Juniors.

In reply to openning

Not you say Wickham is Everton Weekes Jr?

How he doin?

Or is jes shame you shame?

In reply to imusic

In reply to openning

Loads of talent in the islands just not getting enough exposure. Not for going it alone thought just need more tournaments to expose the youngsters to competitive cricket. Also coaching has to be on the same page.

Windwards does have a annual senior tournament, while Leewards just recently re-started their senior tournament in 2023 after 4 years and actually there is a Leewards U-19 subregional one day tournament ongoing right now in St.Kitts. Just before that Dominica just won the U-19 tournament in the Windwards and are slowly becoming a powerhouse in the Windwards. They seem to have a great passion and their grassroots system is good.

The issue is always finance for these tournaments as they do not generate revenue and yes as expected there is bias in a lot of the selections as so many islands are involved Windward (4) Leewards (5-8 if you include Montserrat, BVI, USVI).

In reply to voiceofreason

Wow, your best post ever.

Is this a Good Friday present?

In reply to voiceofreason

Why should Barbados and other Islands compete and not Antigua and the other Islands?
Several youngsters are not seen outside of their territory.
Cricket is a regional sport; Stanford showed the way.
These Islands are independent. What I saw from Dominica tells me several good crickets in these Islands are overlooked because of the combination of the Leewards and Windwards.

In reply to imusic

Kevin Wickham plays for a club that has produced several Internationals. If he wants cricket to be his career and not just a job, he will have to put in the work.

Seymour tried to help DRS but got tired of his antics.

In reply to openning

I understand your point. The issue with that is competitive quality at the wider regionals will be compromised. Perhaps it can work in T20 cricket eg, Stanford but LIST A and R4D are different beasts. The likes of TNT and Guyana will massacre these teams especially in the longer version. How would that help their development?

What I would suggest is a Premier division and a 1st Division with promotion/demotion. 8 teams in the Premier league, Guyana, TNT, Jamaica , Barbados, WI Academy, CCC and the winner of the subregional tournaments in the Leewards and Windwards. The other islands in the 1st division. Again finance will be the issue.
What will also be required is a robust Franchise system where each team must have a mandatory 2-3 picks not from their island to bolster the teams. Trades should be allowed both off-season and mid season.

In reply to voiceofreason

How many 4-day championships has Windward won? The same question can be asked of the leeward in the last 30 years.
These teams are not preparing players for regional competition because of their location. Why stick to the same 50-year policy without having productive results?

Antigua has produced the bulk all the international greats from the two areas, time to go alone.

The West Indies has a First Class Tournament with eight teams and over one hundred players. Our problem is not quantity but rather quality.

First Class batsmen make centuries and double centuries but can't maintain a Test average above 40.

Similarly, First Class bowlers take five wicket and ten wicket hauls but can't maintain a Test average below 30.

The West Indies brain trust have a big problem to solve. How to turn First Class cricketers into Test cricketers.

In reply to Fivestar

Maybe if FC & test cricket were more attractive to young players, there would be incentive for them

In reply to imusic

The White ball format is becoming similar to test cricket, looking at it from as a cricket fan.
West had several players in the IPL 10 years ago. How many West Indians are now starting or are contracted?

In reply to openning

How many would you offer a contract. Says to me our cricket continues to decline. And those in charge have no clue on how to fix it.

In reply to openning

I thought your argument was about exposing more players to FC cricket as I do not see how separating team is going to make them win more championships.

In reply to voiceofreason

It is not only about winning, but also seeing more of the talent from the several Islands.
T&T selects
players that compete against each other, but the Dominica youth are not given that opportunity.
What is wrong with an independent Antigua or Grenada having a team playing regional cricket?
Each of these Islands is represented in other sports, why not cricket?

That young, promising country boy in St. Lucia is overlooked because of a youngster from another Island; had he represented St. Lucia, it would have given the CWI selectors a chance to see him.