Cricket West Indies (CWI) Vice-President, Dr Kishore Shallow has assured there is a comprehensive plan in place as the West Indies men’s and women’s teams look to take the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup next year.
Speaking exclusively with Stabroek Sport on Wednesday evening after he witnessed the West Indies Women being whitewashed by India Women 5-0 at Providence, Shallow was asked if there is any plan in place from CWI’s perspective to add more cricket apart from those on the international calendar as preparation for the World Cup.
He responded, “I think there is more than enough cricket, hopefully it would give everyone an opportunity to perform and give themselves a chance to be selected but I think it is a comprehensive plan in place.”
The executive posited, “It is a busy schedule already as it is, you know the director of cricket would have ensured the players have a proper plan going to the world cup with the Women’s in March and the Men’s later in the year.”
West Indies Men will face India in three T20Is next month while they are also booked to play Ireland and New Zealand in three matches each as well as a five-match series against South Africa before the World Cup.
Shallow’s optimism extended to the most recent showings by both sides. Like the women, the Caribbean men suffered a 2-1 loss to Afghanistan in India.
In light of the series losses, the Vice-President said that he still sees some positives when asked his opinion on the series.
“I think there are still positive signs, first and foremost I think it is great to see the pool of players female and male with all the players expressing their availability and we also have three selection panels which means we have more eyes on all our cricket and I think those are important developments that would help selecting our best players for the World Cup,” Shallow stated.
The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia next year with men’s two-time reigning champions, West Indies set to defend their title along with 2016 female champions, West Indies Women looking to move up in the rankings.
The ICC rankings currently place the men at tenth while the women slipped to fifth.
