Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has described West Indies Cricket as being in a state of crisis.

Speaking on Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he based his assessment on a string of poor performances from the Caribbean side and an apparent lack of development.

“On the basis of the recent performances in the T20 World Cup, the abysmally poor outcome we have had in Sri Lanka and the very mediocre performance here in the Caribbean in recent times, I think it would be fair to say that the cricket is now in a state of crisis,” said Gonsalves, who went on to say that he believes a lack of ideas for a way forward from leaders of cricket around the region continues to be a contributing factor to the demise of the game.

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

I presented on said topic in 1988 at the Consortium Graduate School. The great Girvan hosted the Lecture and Q & A.

Is West Indies Cricket in Crisis - this region hates the truth even when data shows it. Hype has replaced knowledge. Ah well - we reap what we sow -West Indies Cricket has been Structurally Adjusted.

In reply to Chrissy

Norman Girvan.....the boss. Have a book from him from early secondary school days.

Self inflicted crisis by the selectors, coach, players and management. The tribalism, insularity and chronic big-headedness policy must be expelled forthwith in order for improvement to take place.

In reply to Chrissy

It’s simple. WI cricket is a legacy of colonialism..time for the respective territories to go it alone….the concept of WI cricket died an ignoble death long time ago….that is reality..sadly we are still hanging on to the corpse….

In reply to Jumpstart

Correct - he was head of the Consortium Graduate School - one of the few who respected my work

In reply to FanAttick

That is not the problem

In reply to Chrissy

Pray tell…what then is the problem?

In reply to FanAttick

Will do sometime - going on the road now

In reply to FanAttick

stop trying to convince yourself or others. JA should just declare they going alone and go. enuff of the long talk

In reply to sudden

That would be my recommendation…unfortunately there are too many snouts in the trough. - so it’s unlikely that men will do what’s required….


I have great memories of WI cricket….much the same way I have great memories where I would walk from one end of Kingston, or Bridgetown or Port of Spain, or Georgetown to the other all hours of the night without fearing for my safety…..sadly those are now but distant memories

We cannot put together one proper team from the whole Caribbean, but we will go it alone. Insularity to its zenith. We already face the problem of small population and financial resources and we expect to compete. These are different times. The Caribbean of today thrives on lip service and mediocrity in every facet of live but we suddenly demand excellence from cricketers.
We accept anything from the politicians, the churches, the unions, the businesses, but apparently cricket happens in another world, in the imagination and memories of some people.
We complain about team selection and all we are screaming about is replacing one crappy player with another. Look what is happening in Guyana. Read today's Guyana papers. Most of their players turned up yesterday, out of shape and unfit. Cricket is their job. They are on retainers. And they come to work, totally unprepared. I am sure this is the same all over the Caribbean.
Caribbean people, on the whole, are done with cricket. They may attend the T20s for the music, dancing and rum. They will certainly not attend a 5 day test match or when the WI play, a 2 or 3 day test match.

In reply to FanAttick

sounds like you are offering unsolicited advice.

nonetheless they should follow it

In reply to bobby

They said the same thing when Jamaica and others opted to go in alone in athletics….not sure if you are old enough to remember when Caribbean islands competed under the West Indies Federation from 1958-62….

The rest they say is history. - Quarrie, Ottey, Veronica, Bolt, SAF, Elaine


I am sure the individual islands will take licks at the beginning but so did Sri Lanka when they 1st entered test cricket…a few years later they were crowned WC Champions with the likes of Sangakarra, Jayawardene not to mention Jayasuriya and Da Silva before them

In reply to FanAttick

then that means the university is a relic of colonialism as well. Both started in the pre-independence era . and the same problems of insularity afflict UWI as much as it afflicts the WI team. Some dishonest academics(with tribal interests), some overtly trying to change the history of the region, destroying person's reputations along the way, insular leadership squabbles at the top and an increasingly large alumni that has to go out of the region to seek greener pastures. WI cricket needs CARICOM's help to get out. CARICOM is the only body that could hold leaders to account. You cannot leave cricket, listed as a "public good" by official CARICOM documents to shadowy private sector individuals. If ppl knew the half of what the WICBC/WICB/CWI/whatevertheydecidetocallthemselves has done since 1995, they would scream

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Where have you been Ralphie?? Although I like the level of cricket ehthusiam in your country among the youths and even the ladies!

In reply to FanAttick

so how would a Caribbean athletic team have stopped JA from producing such talent?

In reply to FanAttick
The Yard has two good lanes, T&F and Netball, I am not sure of a historic culture in winning cricket tournaments.
Barbados women will be the first group to test the market, our aides will be competing at the Commonwealth games

In reply to sudden

t&f dopes not require nearly as much starting capital. And sponsorship dwarfs whatever WI cricket has access to. Don't forget scholarship to universities.....chances of getting nothing out of T&F are almost zilch once yoou reach a reasonable standard

In reply to Jumpstart

How does that make contact with what I asked?

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
Gonsalves is wrong it not lack of development it’s rather lack of leadership.

West Indies problem is lack of every thing : Respect, commitment, honour, patriotism, gratitude, professionalism, knowledge etc. Our preparation to go into battle has been poor to say the least.

In reply to FanAttick

Imagine a full stadium and world wide media coverage for Jamaica vs. Uganda?

It won't work my friend, collectively we will be worst off.



Its not a concept- a concept is an untried idea, WI cricket has been greatly successful up until the big fall.

The problem with WI cricket has to do with poor management beginning in the 70's and 80's- when the team-players was mighty great- the leaders of WI cricket back then did nothing to make it a global brand and to secure the grass-root level in every territory. Then globalization came along and the region struggled by the influx of other forms of entertainment, lack of cricket infrastructure etc.

Poor leadership is the problem- the impact of that poor leadership of the 70's and 80's is now being felt.

And BTW, Ralph Gonzalves is part of the problem. I wish the radio host had ask him what has he done in St Vincent as a leader over the past umpteen years to make St Vincent cricket better?

Leadership isn't only at the CWI board level, but first and foremost it must come from the grass-root level in every territory.

WTF

In reply to Emir

We will never be allowed in the Olympics as West Indies.

In reply to bobby

Then so be it. This not working!!!

In reply to natty_forever

That is not the goal. And BTW, the Olympics set up is an easy fix as each island can send their own team. I don't want to change the topic of this post, but the Olympics solution is for T-10.

In reply to Jumpstart

Spewing opinions as facts?

In reply to Emir

T20. However doing the same thing over and over expecting different results ...