HEADLINE: Sir Viv Predicts CWI Will Struggle to Find Suitable Replacement for Brathwaite

Legendary West Indies batsman and former captain, Sir Vivian Richards, believes that a suitable replacement for Kraigg Brathwaite as captain of the men’s Test team will be hard to find.

Cricket West Indies, on March 31, announced that Brathwaite had stepped down as Test captain after three years in the role, adding that a replacement would be named in the weeks following the announcement.

Sir Viv questioned whether the board was prepared for the development, suggesting that the cupboard seems a bit empty.

“One of the things I believe is that and I don’t know if they had made enough preparations for that particular format. We see a lot of who has potential in the ODI and T20 format as captains but I don’t think they would have made enough preparations for someone taking over from Brathwaite and it has basically opened the doors. We have to look at individuals who can demand a place, I believe, and that’s very important,” he said. 

Sir Viv led the West Indies in 50 Test matches from 1984 to 1991 and is the only West Indies captain never to lose a Test series. The Antiguan suggested that maybe it is time for special attention to be given to young players with the potential to lead.

“I think that’s maybe something we have to look at and look at the individuals with the potential and not just basically with batting skills but someone who is pretty astute with the game and someone who demands the respect of the individuals they are going to lead so all of these things are crucial,” he said. 

Read more at Antigua Observer

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Why would Viv want us to find a replacement for Braff?

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

well that happens when you have coups instead of succession planning. The last test captain who earned the post was Denesh Ramdin, and he was saddled by 2nd string teams. Holder wasn't even a sure pick in the wi team when he got the captaincy, in any of the three teams. the only noteworthy thing he had done up until that point was saving a match with the bat against england and dedicating it to mandela(that said match by the way did not feature gayle or dj bravo and featured devon smith, so yes it was a 2nd string team). Holder, not held to account by results, was then given free reign until the big idiot lost the election in 2019, after which he started throwing tempered tantrums about losing the positions. Finally, after a whooping in nz, the 2nd under his tenure, they gave him the boot. kraigg was the last of the 2nd string team that remained, the team started to come along in 2011, when sammy had his first test series at home as captain. And now, we are left with very young players, people like hope who can't play test cricket, and people like pooran who just are not interested in the format

What Richards talking about, it is a common practice for the WI not to be prepared for changes in captaincy. Holder, Chanderpaul, Lloyd, Gayle and Sarwan were all appointed as captains without planning or grooming.

In reply to dayne

That isn't correct. Sarwan had been lara's vc for the last 1.5 years of lara's career. At some point in between, chanders was vc and gayle by his charisma recommended himself for leadership and was also captain of JA's fc and list a teams when he was available. holder had none of that. as i said, he wasn't even a sure starter in any of our teams when he was appointed. Lloyd had been in the team eight years before he was appointed. Kanhai was 38 when he got the captaincy so clearly he wasn't even a medium term option. Until Richardson, there had always been clear succession planning for a skipper in WI cricket, even if the board wanted to disrupt that process. When Worrell retired, it was understood that the next leader would be sobers. When Sobers retired, next in line would have been kanhai, and kanhai would have been captain for a longer time if he didn't get the captaincy at such an old age. When Lloyd was skipper, after Deryck Murray retired, there was no argument on who the next captain would be....Viv who was being groomed by Lloyd. The only issue was that they had to go to a vote and Viv only won by one vote(his competition was apparently Marshall, who had only been a team regular for the previous three years). Viv was grooming Dessie Haynes to take over, again, not as a long term solution, as he would have been 365 in 1991, the year viv bowed out, but holding and guiding the team until someone(not richardson) showed up. In fact two of Viv's retirement requests were to play in the 92 World Cup and to have dessie take over the reigns of the side. WICB couldn't handle another alpha male and decided to put richie, who tactically was awful and didn't have the full respect of the team

In reply to Jumpstart

And here we are...fucked!

In reply to natty_forever

We were fucked with Brathwaite anyway

Sir Viv ..time warp......

Captaincy in modern cricket is more about technology and competent back room staff.....than yesteryears instinctive....

So, Sir Viv.... Don't worry.....

In reply to Onionman0

Nah I don’t agree. Check the difference in results between Kohli and Rohit. Yes rohit won a wt20 and a champions trophy, but they were whitewashed at home and lost the bg trophy for the first time in 11 years under rohit.

In reply to Jumpstart

Can you name another team sport where a captain oversees on-field duties?
You are still living in the 70s and by seeing things in real-time, have various opinions.

In reply to openning

Real talk, people still viewing today’s events through yesterday’s lens!

In reply to imusic

Was KB the only captain we got fucked with or fucked us?

In reply to tc1

Let us move away from Kraigg's era, who are the young batsmen from Bim to keep an eye on?
A number of young pacers seem to be ready to take over: Johann Layne, Matthew Forde and a few others. Joshua Bishop will be starting next year.
This was not a good year for the batsman.

In reply to openning

Did you see young Parris today,I think he should return to opening.
You have Wckham and young Depeiza and Dorne.