BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AS promised, Cricket West Indies ((CWI)) will shortly begin the review process to better understand the circumstances surrounding the poor performance by the West Indies team at the just concluded T20 World Cup in Australia.
West Indies exited the tournament in the qualifying stages, winning only one of its three games, which was an embarrassment for the regional side after a promising display of batting, bowling and fielding by players within the squad several days after the Caribbean Premier League concluded.
That prompted CWI President Richard ‘Rickey’ Skerritt to launch an inquiry to get to the bottom of the debacle, describing the performance a “disappointment”, especially with the squad’s inability to properly play spin.
“The ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail over opposing slow bowling continues to be an obvious weakness in Australia, and untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture” he noted.
Skerritt reassured all stakeholders that they would get to the root cause of the problem, including “our World Cup preparation, performance, and that solutions will be in keeping with CWI’s strategy to improve the quality and sustainability of cricket on all fronts and in all formats”.
CWI today (Nov. 16) confirmed a three-member group of independent professionals has been named to conduct a comprehensive review of the early exit by the West Indies from the recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
The group comprises West Indies batting legend and current IPL T20 Head Coach Brian Lara; international cricket coach, South African Mickey Arthur; and Justice Patrick Thompson Jr., a High Court Judge at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; who will serve as Chair of the group which has already begun to work.
The three-member panel will submit a report to the CWI Board of Directors, with relevant insight and clear recommendations. It is also intended that the review will establish a process and template for future performance reviews.
A nine-point term of reference has been outlined, covering the role of the committee and its operations.
Among the requirements are holding interviews with the T20 Team and Player Preparation, Scheduling, Player/Staff Workloads, Player Development, Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Caribbean Premier League’s role in Team preparation and Statistical Analysis.
In commenting on the appointments, Skerritt said: “CWI is fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and totally independent panel agree to serve West Indies Cricket under challenging circumstances. I am especially grateful for their commitment to lend some of their valuable time to this important review project. It is vital that players, coaches, administrators, and all of us who love West Indies cricket, recognize that creating a sustainable learning culture, throughout the organization, is a prerequisite for player growth and team improvement. Emotion-based and knee-jerk type decisions have failed CWI repeatedly in the past. I am confident that this independent World Cup review process will produce findings and learnings that should be of great benefit to our cricket system going forward.”
The final report is expected to be submitted no later than December 15.
