Dear Editor,

The West Indies cricket team should stop playing for awhile, regroup and resume.

As it now stands, they have become very uncompetitive. For example, in Australia where they are currently touring, any good club side can beat the West Indies handily. In the Test matches so far they have been outplayed. It has become a very one-sided affair, which is very painful to watch.

Cricket is a great game, and for some time now the West Indies team has done a disservice with some very dismal performances. The argument that their star players are currently playing other formats of the game is baseless. This started a long time ago.

I recall a couple years ago at Sabina Park they were playing India in a Test series. All the games were drawn and the final game was for the Wisden Trophy. They were given two days to make a little over 300 runs for victory on a batting paradise with a line-up which included Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Robert Samuel, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and they got bowled out and lost the game and trophy. I think that is where the real decline started.

A lot of cricket pundits will tell you that Clive Lloyd’s team was the greatest West Indies team ever. While that may be true, I like the Gary Sobers-led team which included the likes of Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Seymour Nurse, Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon, Franz Alexander, and Lance Gibbs. Just imagine, with no cricket academies the region produced all these great world-class players too many to mention. I believe that lack of talent and discipline is a big part of the reason for the current situation.

Can you believe that at one time the West Indies dominated just about every aspect of the game? A most talented and exciting team to watch.

The sport has become stagnant in the Caribbean. What is needed is not necessarily a new coach, but a new approach. Although money is significant, pride should be important as well. There should be no greater honour than representing one’s country and region in the highest format of the game. That is where the ultimate focus should be.

Noel Mitchell

Westchester, New York

nlmworld@yahoo.com