Sir Viv on the ball
The recently concluded Indian tour of the West Indies wasn’t an intense exhibition of Test cricket. And yet, ahead of a long 2016-17 season it threw up various pointers. Here, Sir Vivian Richards speaks to cricbuzz.com about the series, the health of cricket in the Caribbean, and Test cricket in general.
What is the way forward though for West Indies’ cricket? Do you think it’s about time that the selectors sat down with senior players and had an honest chat?
Sir Viv: It is. To be fair, when you are not doing well in results you have to listen, you have to open your ears to solutions and advice. I am not quite sure what is happening at present. You hear all sort of talk about what is happening in West Indies cricket. I can only hope that people can come to their common sense, because the game is much bigger than administration and much bigger than players. That’s how it should be treated.
Is the financial might of T20 cricket the root cause of this discord?
Sir Viv: There are a lot of individuals who want to take short cuts and play just for T20 leagues across the world. By short cuts, I mean, the attraction of Big Bash and IPL leagues is too strong and they are truly ignoring the spirit of the game. They must remember that at the very beginning, Test cricket was all we had, and then the shorter formats came much later. So we need to exercise some sort of control over this player movement.
see also Richards supports professional WICB