St John’s [Antigua], March 3 : Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Jonny Grave slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for not supporting the board financially and alleging that the world cricket is doing everything in its power to make sure that cricket in the Caribbean is never strong again.
Grave’s comments come after two big moments in the history of West Indies cricket that have happened within the last year or so. Last year, WI touched the lowest of lows by missing out on the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time, by losing to Netherlands, an associate member of ICC, in the tournament qualifiers.
The tournament which was dominated by West Indies in its starting decade with two title wins and three final appearances, lacked the Caribbean flavour in India, where West Indies cricketers are heavily popular due to their involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But after the WC, West Indies recorded two encouraging ODI and T20I series wins against England, the current holders of the ICC T20 World Cup. Then came one of the highest points of the region’s recent cricket history, as a 24-year-old pacer Shamar Joseph emerged out of nowherewith a spell of 7/68, guiding WI to their first Test win on Australian soil against the mighty Aussies in 27 years back in January.
Talking on the Wisden Cricket Monthly Podcast, Grave said that he is sick of the phrase that the ‘world cricket needs a strong West Indies’ team’, especially when it is doing all it can to weaken it.
“I think everyone is a bit sick of the phrase – world cricket needs a strong West Indies – when we feel that world cricket is doing everything they can at almost every level to make sure that West Indies Cricket is never strong again,” Grave said.