ICC chair Greg Barclay appears on throughout day three of the First Take a look at match within the sequence between New Zealand and England at Hagley Oval on Nov. 30, 2024 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Picture by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Photos
The Caribbean’s cricket leaders have all dismissed the suggestion by the outgoing chairman of the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC), Greg Barclay, that the West Indies needs to be dismantled as one entity and the international locations play as separate nations. He additionally steered that the ICC also needs to abolish its Full Member standing.
Barclay’s feedback had been swiftly rejected by Conde Riley, the Barbados Cricket Affiliation president, as “insanity. ” He steered that the person territories put measures in place to enhance cricket within the area.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr. Kishore Shallow stated it’s “unlucky.”
He stated, “We (West Indies) have a wealthy historical past, a wealthy legacy that’s virtually unmatched in worldwide cricket, and the contribution that West Indies has made to world cricket is there in file to indicate.”
The West Indies performed its first Take a look at in 1928 and dominated the game within the Eighties. Led first by Clive Lloyd, then Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Richie Richardson, the West Indies didn’t lose a single Take a look at sequence between 1980 and 1995 after profitable the primary two ICC ODI World Cups in 1975 and 1979.
In an interview, Barclay highlighted the plight of Cricket West Indies, which has confronted important monetary issue over the previous few years, notably heightened in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barclay stated, “You take a look at the West Indies; I really like what they’ve executed for the sport, however is the West Indies in its present type sustainable?” “Is it time for them to interrupt into every of their islands?
“The factor is, can they (West Indies) afford to (proceed to play Take a look at cricket)? They barely could make their books steadiness now.
“What they’ve achieved in cricket is phenomenal whenever you suppose that they’re a gaggle of disparate islands that don’t actually have something in frequent aside from cricket and, but, they’ve held themselves collectively for that time frame because the West Indies.”
CWI, the crew’s governing physique, consists of the six cricket associations of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands. It takes nice satisfaction and accountability to develop, information, and defend cricket all through the 15 English-speaking Caribbean international locations that type the West Indies.
He added, “The West Indies would say, why can we go from full member to 14 associates (if we break up into island nations)? However that’s about actually getting the governance factor proper. Cricket is nearly distinctive. You’ve bought this group of full members, and also you’ve bought the remaining. Certainly, simply dispense with that and go, okay, somebody’s primary, and anyone’s quantity 120. And you’ll transfer up and down, get ranked on efficiency, on and off the sector.”
“The upper up you go, the more cash you get, the extra publicity you get. And should you’re not performing, you then go down.”
Shallow stated, “World cricket wouldn’t have been the identical with out the involvement of West Indies. I discover it to be fairly unlucky that the previous chair could be so irresponsible in his feedback.”
The West Indies has continued to set data over time, even within the latest previous when its grip on world cricket began to slacken.
