Getting back to the top of world cricket
The following is part two of a two-part article. Part one can be found in yesterday’s publication of The Sunday Gleaner.
AT CRICKET West Indies, we are attempting to field our strongest possible team in white-ball cricket. We also have to focus on global attempts to reform Test cricket, and ensure its long-term viability. I see possibly where we may have less Test cricket, but better Test cricket, with more day-night games, matches counting towards the proposed new nine-team league structure – most likely involving each side playing six series over a two-year cycle, with the top two meeting in the Test final. Grave believes that a ‘2-3-3’ format – two Tests, three (One Day Internationals) ODIs and three (Twenty20 Internationals) T20Is – could well become the norm in international cricket.
When I attended my first ICC board meeting in February, I was of the belief that Test cricket is five days and starts at 11 o’clock on a Thursday, and never should that change. Now, I am becoming increasingly open to the notion of Tests being reduced to four days, a shift which is noticeable among other chief executives this year.
Many of my contemporaries in the room, when we spoke about it in February, were as adamant as I was about five-day cricket. I think that is mellowing and people are more approachable to it; four-day Test cricket is certainly being spoken about more than it was six months ago.
There are strong cricket arguments against it, but if those cricket arguments can be met in some way shape or form, then I think four-day Test cricket is a compelling idea, certainly from a scheduling point of view of series and tours, when we are getting international cricket struggling to find its window amid all these T20 leagues. Thursday to Sunday works well in golf – to have your result day on a Sunday when more people are free to watch or follow it.
OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP
Though white-ball cricket – above all, T20 – looms as an increasingly large part of cricket’s future, I believe (our) Windies’ fortunes can be revived, and the talent in the region is sufficiently vibrant to sustain success in all three formats. We are as committed as anyone in the world to playing Test cricket. We have got seven Tests remaining for the year – it is a great opportunity to develop as a young side. India, Australia and England have massive advantages over us, and if we are giving them another advantage by us having less experience in Test cricket, then I am not sure we are giving our players the level playing field we need to. I am convinced that the desire to improve in Tests, among fans and players alike, runs deep. A lot of people’s perception was: “Do West Indies players still want to play red-ball cricket?” They absolutely do and my hope as a fan of West Indies cricket, as well, is that some of the players who go to England can make a name for themselves and surprise a few people. I would love to see a few of them on the honours board at Lord’s.
It is not only in the appetite for Tests that I have found the cliches about West Indies’ demise to be untrue. It is certainly a misconception of the rest of the world that cricket is dying in the region and no one cares about it. There are plenty of good players. Let us look at the recent Under-19s series victory away to South Africa. How we enhance and develop that talent and turn our cricketers into global stars is the challenge, but that is a challenge for any sport.
A particular concern is the pathways that exist between the Under-19s set-up and the first team in the professional game, where the presence of only six domestic sides means that bright young players can find first-team opportunities lacking. Because there is no second-team cricket, the opportunities to become a first-class cricketer in the region are still limited. If England had only six counties and no second team and university cricket, who knows whether late developers like Andrew Strauss, or more recently Toby RolandJones, would have made it?
We have already received a stark reminder of the limits of talent, without being accompanied by an adequate support system, earlier this English summer. In the women’s game, the delirium of the Women’s Twenty20 (WT20) victory last year gave way to World Cup ignominy. I hate to admit, but this year’s showing might be a better reflection of the state of the women’s game in the Caribbean.
When we won the WT20, it was against all the odds. We do not have women’s cricket played consistently throughout the region. We do not have professional regional teams at domestic level, elite girls’ squads at youth level or wellstructured women’s club cricket, really. So the fact that we produced 11 women to win a World Cup and beat the best of the best was an extraordinary achievement.
The women’s set-up in the region is well behind the rest of the world. Australia, England and India, after that World Cup, are going to be doing even more now. We are behind the curve and I believe that next year’s Women’s WT20 tournament (which might be co-hosted with the USA) provides ‘a perfect platform’ to lift up the women’s team.
Yet what is possible, for cricketers of both genders, will not merely be dictated on the pitch. It will be defined off it. The West Indies comprises 16 different nations and territories, which are small and relatively penurious, and lack direct transport links between each other. Even after June’s ICC reforms, we still receive US$11 million less from the ICC than England – and US$277 million less than India – as well as far less in broadcasting rights. We will prevail.
This column is a highlight of a recent interview with Tim Wigmore in Cricbuzz.com.