Why did West Indian cricket go into decline?
It is very sad but I think we got complacent. We have failed to nurture the talent we had. I have been calling for an academy for the last 10 to 15 years but nothing has happened. It is very important to teach the boys, give them an impetus to win and discipline them.Otherwise, they will gravitate to other sports—a lot of West Indians are today playing football. Look at the number of basketball courts we have in Antigua! After all, cricket is an expensive game to play. You need a large ground, levelled pitch, equipment. For basketball, you need only a small strip of land, a hoop and a sweatshirt. After Walsh and Ambrose, do you see anybody carrying the West Indian legacy of fast bowlers forward? No one in the lot we’ve got today. Sanford is good but again, at 26, he’s pretty late for a fast bowler. Dillon and Black are not fast bowlers. They are only medium pacers. I guess we also need something on the lines of the MRF Pace Academy you’ve got in India. You didn’t have a very happy time
