By Tony (McWatt) and Reds (Perreira)
One of the English dictionary’s definitions of the word reform is “to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults!” As a result of its calamitous performance in the ICC 2021 T20 World Cup, the need for a radical and total reform of West Indies’ white-ball cricket has now become undeniably apparent. The disastrous net effect of the West Indies’ woeful performance was its status transformation from defending champions to next year’s 2022 tournament qualifiers.
The highly embarrassing status relegation of the two times T20 World Champions West Indies to that of lowly qualifiers for next year’s 2022 tournament is just the latest episode of a now four-and-a-half decades-long very sad saga. The forthcoming 2023 ICC 50 overs World Cup will mark 44 years since the West Indies was last crowned as that tournament’s champions and 40 years since its appearance in a final. To redress both of these T20 and ODI anomalies, radical reform of every aspect of West Indies white-ball cricket is indeed urgently required.