In this two-part series, the former seamer talks about the state of the current Windies team as well as the challenges facing women’s cricket in the Caribbean
Is it then reasonable to expect players to transition quickly, given the limited number of games they play?
I think maybe what we need to do is not be so harsh on them when they don't improve at the rate the players from other countries are improving. They aren't playing enough cricket at the regional level. And our players need to play more cricket outside of the Caribbean as well.
If there's no way for us to support them playing more cricket here because we don't have the finances, then we must have relationships with counties in England, Australia, or wherever, where we can send them on some type of program overseas.
You made a point when you were talking about Gajnabi, who just played a regional competition of six T20s and then three 50-over games. If she's not selected for the West Indies team, then she doesn't play again until the CPL begins. And that is not enough for an international cricketer. So we need to find ways for them to play outside [the region].
You think back to Jannillea Glasgow and Shanisha Hector, amongst other girls, who were given the opportunity to go to Australia for a season. You’ve seen how it helped Glasgow. I'm not saying it's all because she went to Australia, but she would have gotten the opportunity to play more games, and this was when she was not in the West Indies setup. She came right out of Tasmania and got back into the team. And now she's scoring runs. I believe it helped that she got the opportunity to play a few more games than the other girls.
If they don't have international commitments, they need to be playing cricket. Going back home to train is not going to be enough. I strongly believe they need to play men’s cricket as well. If you examine the players historically who have been our best, especially the batters, they all played against men. Whenever there’s time, both those coming through the ranks and those already in the senior side should. It’ll give them a greater challenge, and it’s likely to speed up their development.