Suggestions for the West Indies Cricket Board

NEWS that Mr Sunil Narine has opted to represent the Kolkata Knight Riders in Sunday's final of the twenty20 Indian Premier League rather than seek to represent West Indies in the upcoming Test series against visiting New Zealand underlines the crisis facing Caribbean cricket.

It's not that Mr Narine doesn't want to play Test cricket or represent the West Indies. The problem is that he is a professional contracted to the Knight Riders for a pay packet that, until just a few years ago, was unheard of in cricket.

Aware of the difficulties facing several West Indians in the IPL, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) set a deadline of Sunday (June 1) — just a week before the start of the first Test -- for them to get into the pre-series camp now ongoing in Barbados.