Dubai: The decline of West Indies cricket is nothing new, according to their batting legend Brian Lara, who says things have been on a downward spiral since the mid-nineties.
A recent player contract dispute saw the Islanders pull out of last October’s tour of India, with the BCCI threatening to sue for $65 million (Dh238 million) in damages. On the field too, the Windies are a shadow of their former selves losing to Ireland in their ICC World Cup group, scraping through the pool stages only to be knocked out in the quarter-finals by New Zealand last month.
“My era wasn’t very good as well,” Lara said on the sidelines of the Icons Cup all-star golf tournament at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club on Friday. “I was in the decline of West Indies cricket.
“The 1970s and 80s were when we really dominated and the West Indies started to slide downwards in 1995, when we lost against Australia.
“We haven’t really recovered since then and there are a lot of mitigating factors and reasons for that as far as I’m concerned. People might think that the players are the ones to blame, but there are a lot of things outside of what you see on the field, that’s going on, that’s actually handicapping us and resulting in us not being able to produce the cricket that we’ve produced in the past, or even the cricketers that we’ve produced in the past.”
With the BCCI looking to reclaim their losses for the recent disrupted tour of India, Lara refused to comment on whether legal action could bankrupt the Islanders.
“I’m not an accountant so I really don’t know if they’re strapped for cash or not. It’s just infrastructure and a lack of proper academies for the youngsters is what’s affecting our cricket.
“To produce those things, you would need money and astute thinkers to put everything together maybe we’re lacking in that area, but I’m not sure.”
Lara pointed to signs of promise in the ongoing series against England in the Caribbean, for cracks of light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s a team that’s mixed with youngsters and I’m pretty impressed with [captain] Jason Holder. He’s an exceptional talent. He doesn’t have the full game yet, but – at 23-years-old – you expect him to grow into a mature cricketer.
“I think it’s a good team and it doesn’t matter what the ECB chairman Colin Graves says…” – he recently called them mediocre – “it’s important to understand that whenever you come up against 11 individuals, you cannot count them out.
“I’m pretty impressed with the way they’ve played. They’re playing at home in home conditions. But, we have to try to build and if this is under [coach] Phil Simmons, then I want to wish him well.”
