West Indies will seek the advice of legendary former players Sir Viv Richards, Sir Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara following the Test side’s crushing defeat by Australia.
They were bowled out for just 27 – the second-lowest score in Test history, and the worst since 1955 – as they lost the third Test in Jamaica to succumb to a series clean sweep.
In response, Cricket West Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow has called for an emergency meeting to review the series and the final match in particular.
Given the side’s ongoing struggles with the bat, Richards, Lloyd and Lara – “our greatest batsmen ever” according to Dr Shallow – have been invited to attend the meeting.
They will join fellow West Indies batting greats Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Desmond Haynes, and former fast bowler Ian Bradshaw, who already serve on the cricket strategy and officiating committee.
“This engagement is not ceremonial,” a statement from Dr Shallow read. “These are men who helped define our golden eras, and their perspectives will be invaluable as we shape the next phase of our cricket development.
“We intend for this gathering to result in tangible, actionable recommendations.”
Shallow insisted the team is in “a rebuilding phase” and investment is being made to reignite the “spirit that has long made West Indies cricket a force in the world”.
He added: “Progress is rarely straightforward. It takes time, perseverance and belief, especially in our most difficult moments.
“There is much work to be done. But we must do it with purpose, and we must do it together.”
‘An accident waiting to happen’
West Indies have been battling with “systemic issues” for 25 years that have left them with players “ill-equipped” to deal with the challenges they faced against Australia, according to Trinidadian commentator Fazeer Mohammed.
“It was almost the perfect storm,” he told BBC Sport.
“You’ve got Mitchell Starc, a world class bowler, deadly in any sort of situation and even deadlier with the pink ball, coming up against players really ill-equipped to deal with those sorts of challenges.
“Everything was set up for something like this to happen. You never really factor in 27 all out but, in the general context of West Indies cricket, this was an accident waiting to happen.”
While Lara has been drafted in to help find a solution to the problems facing the current side, Mohammed believes the iconic left-hander’s heroics were part of the reason a lot of the issues were masked for so long.
“What lies behind it is the failure to address the fundamental challenges in our domestic game – in our regional game,” he added.
“We have many different challenges. Fundamental to those would be costs because we have many different territories – it’s very costly to travel around the Caribbean, to host tournaments.
“There’s an air of resignation about it. People will this morning be arguing amongst themselves and debating about how this can happen, who needs to be fired, who needs to be dropped, who needs to be got rid of.
“It’s the same sort of knee-jerk reaction and then they’ll shrug their shoulders and say ‘well this is how it is now’.”
It is almost two and a half years since West Indies last won a Test series – 1-0 in Zimbabwe – and three years since their last home series victory, 2-0 against Bangladesh.
“I don’t think all is lost by any stretch of the imagination,” Mohammed said.
“It requires at a very fundamental level at the schools, at the under-19, under-23 levels a serious financial investment in growing the quality of the game – male and female.
“But also there has to be, first and foremost, that recognition that Test cricket still means something to us in the Caribbean.” BBC Sports
