The West Indies cricket team is currently playing a three match Test series in England and was hammered in the first Test match by an innings and 209 runs in which they lost 19 wickets in a single day’s play.
Many former cricketing legends have slammed the current Windies team, Michael Vaughan even went on to say that this would be the saddest Test series to watch and asked ICC to start a two-division cricket league.
Dr. Allen Sammy vice president of Trinidad and Tobago cricket board has predicted a series whitewash. Dr. Sammy believes that this team is the best the region has to offer and also knows that this team is at a rebuilding stage. He suggested that the reason for this young team’s poor performance in the longest format is their lack of participation in the domestic four-day matches. Players in the Caribbean are more attracted towards the much lucrative T20 leagues which provide them enormous incentives. He believes that the players must be given more incentives to draw them towards playing domestic four-day matches. He said,
“It is really the competition with T20 that is causing a lot of the issues, the fellas are not available for the four-day competition and it is out of the four-day competition where the Test team is selected. That is not just for Trinidad and Tobago, that is for all the territories, that is the source for the Test team.”
Sammy also expressed his disappointment towards the team’s performance but knows that this young team has been pitted against one of the best in the world and this West Indians team is the best team the region has to offer right now. He said,
“Clearly it is disappointing, but remember it is a top team against an emerging new squad who has been blooded against the best. We will get licks in all (the matches), but I don’t see it as licks, I see it as blooding young fellas and making do with what you have. If you say you want to be a specialist in T20 you have that option. Not everybody must play all forms of the game, I am not saying that. Fellas are looking at the incentives players receive in the T20 format and saying ‘In three to five years I could become independently self-sufficient.’ When you play four-day cricket there are no incentives.”