Former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President Pat Rousseau has slammed the regional governing body saying it is responsible for the current problems facing the West Indies team.
Rousseau, in an article in the NationNews, Barbados, argued that the WICB failed to properly manage the challenges brought by the success of Twenty20 cricket and instead resorted to rigid tactics to dissuade players from choosing club over country.
“As I write, no clear policy exists for international T20 cricket tournaments. The IPL-type tournaments are proliferating and we now have them in Australia, England, Bangladesh and South Africa and a start-up in Zimbabwe and a promised tournament in the United States all directed at generating large sums of money for the respective countries,” he said.
“The WICB solution has not been to develop early, an exciting and profitable version of Twenty20 cricket but to enforce its old existing rule about playing in its regional tournaments to qualify for the West Indies team and to badger and harass the players into complying,” he declared.
The Jamaican advised the WICB to invest heavily in the regional Twenty20 competition, which will give financial incentive to players to align themselves with the board.
Meanwhile, Rousseau has disagreed with WICB Non-member Director, Sir Hilary Beckles’ assertion that Captain Darren Sammy is the man to lead the team forward.
“Sir Hilary then shows the way forward in the leadership of Darren Sammy, whom he mentions in the same context as two of our most successful captains in cricket ever, Sir Frank Worrell and Clive Lloyd, a palpable insult to these two icons, who stand above most people who have played the game for their exceptional performances and achievements,” said Rousseau.
