Neita, Perreira bemoan lack of West Indies improvement
Published:Sunday | July 2, 2023 | 1:46 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
WHEN THE West Indies lost to Scotland in a World Cup Qualifier yesterday, dooming them to the ignominy of missing the World Cup, a number of cricket pundits were surprised, even as they understood the regional side was no longer a force set apart from minnows.
Veteran regional cricket analyst Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira said, for instance, that, prior to the start of qualification, the main question was if West Indies could have defeated Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, the two other ‘traditional’ cricketing nations in the qualifiers.
“When we took off to Zimbabwe, the question on most West Indians’ minds was whether we were able to beat Zimbabwe at home with their crowd and if we could beat Sri Lanka. They were the two top teams, but things went downhill from we lost to the Netherlands. It then showed that all these smaller teams had improved immensely and our performance didn’t really improve,” said Perreira.
Perreira was quick to point out that with the West Indies’ next assignment against India on the horizon, the new West Indies coach, Daren Sammy, might have to call on veteran players to salvage pride against a strong-looking India squad.
“When you look, in another couple of weeks we will be facing India. Sammy may well have to convince Desmond Haynes and Roland Butcher to think about bringing back the likes of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis. How are we going to fare against India based on how we played in Zimbabwe? Are we going to get that much better with this squad of players?”
SURPRISING LOSSES
Mark Neita, president of Melbourne Cricket Club and former Jamaica batsman, revealed that while, collectively, the Caribbean can admit that its cricket has declined, losses to the Netherlands and Scotland were still a surprise.
“You do not expect teams like Netherlands and Scotland to beat us, even though we can all admit that our cricket standards are low. Based on what has happened, you can’t even say that we were competitive, because we suffered three straight losses,” said Neita.
While he is not hopeful about the near future of West Indies Cricket, Neita hopes the disappointment will lead to a restructuring of the approach to development.
“I hope that the stakeholders will take a serious look at the construct of West Indies cricket as I believe we are missing the boat when it comes to the development of the game. We are focusing on the top and not understanding that the foundation of our cricket lies in the strength of our high schools, clubs and national level. However, I don’t believe, based on where we are, that in my lifetime we’ll see any improvement.”