Assistant Coach of the West Indies cricket team, Roddy Estwick, has lambasted the level of cricket being played in the region.
According to Estwick, the poor standard of the regional game is transferred to the international stage and he is calling for an improvement.
He also wants more opportunities for youngsters.
Speaking after the first One Day International against West Indies and India, Estwick said: “People seem to think you come up to the test match level or the international level and you haven’t been doing it at the regional level and expect miracles,” he said.
“It has to start at the regional level, when you look at the scores in the regional tournament,” he added giving the example of the Regional Super50 where the Combined Colleges and Campuses secured the title while scoring over 250 runs once.
That tournament, saw only 10 scores of over 250, three of which surpassed 300 runs with eight centuries and 61 fifties.
The Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day tournament was also plagued with low scores as 20 times teams passed the 300-run mark on three occasions, the 400-run mark and the 500-run barrier once by five-time consecutive champions, Guyana. That tournament featured 21 tons.
“So it is a problem that we seem to think starts at the test match level. It doesn’t! We have to start at the regional level and get it right. Once we can start getting it right at the regional level we’ve got a chance so it’s something we know, something we have been stressing,” Estwick said.
The former quick bowler turned bowling coach said that… “We must get the support from the territorial boards to improve, the rotation of the strike, making sure the pitches are better so the scores can get better, once we have a blueprint you will see the improvement tremendously.”
Additionally, the 58-year-old said that there must be more opportunities for the younger players to stake their claims.
He stated that the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is one tournament that unfortunately…”uses our players to make up numbers.”
“We talk about West Indies but it starts with the CPL. We must expose our youngsters, our youngsters are into the CPL sides but are not given the opportunity. They are just part of the CPL,” Estwick stated.
He compared the Indian Premier League with the local tournament saying, “We must expose our youngsters. India do it well, they make sure their youngsters play a prominent role in their tournament. In the CPL our players are just there to make up numbers.
“Until we change that and give our players a role you know… when you’re looking for youngsters around the Caribbean you’re asking yourself how many youngsters get a chance to shine in CPL.”
Estwick said that Guyanese Shimron Hetmyer is one youngster who have been given the opportunity to play in the CPL.
“You’re fortunate here in Guyana that [Shimron] Hetmyer has been given a chance but how many youngsters going around the Caribbean have been given a chance?” he asked.
“We don’t have a secondary T20 tournament so you tend to see the same names year in year out so no youngsters coming through and that is something we need to change.”
