CWI boss says no knee-jerk actions despite disappointing World Cup
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt has indicated that despite the “disappointing” performance of the regional squad in the recently ended ICC T20 World Cup, the administration of the regional sport will not be making any rash moves.
He said the Caribbean men’s performance is currently under review.
West Indies, who were defending champions heading into this year’s World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, crashed out of the October 17 to November 14 tournament in the group stage after winning just one of their five games.
Questioned at a virtual media conference on Wednesday, about his view of the regional squad’s performance, Skerritt said: “I obviously am not excited about what we did on the field. We were expecting better results; but we have people in place who are reviewing what took place and I expect to see some reports in the not-too-distant future.”
“I was here myself to see the last two games and then as a guest of the ICC I was here to see the semi-finals and finals. So I’ve gotten a fairly good first-hand view of what was taking place in terms of our performance, which was disappointing, to be frank, but what will not happen…is any knee-jerk, anger-based, emotional decision about cricket, certainly not while I’m president,” he added.
Skerritt stressed that the Windies’ failure in the tournament should be a learning experience.
“We have to be in a learning environment. If we lose, it must be of benefit to us because we are learning. If we don’t create a learning environment in West Indies cricket, we will not improve in anything we do,” he said.
“It’s not easy to achieve a learning environment overnight when you’ve had a very hostile culture [where you] just kick the ball around and blame each other. But I am confident that I will get some feedback which will help us move forward and make some proper decisions.”
West Indies missed out on an automatic spot in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia following their abysmal showing at this year’s showpiece.