THE PRESIDENT of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Dr Julian Hunte, claims the regional side is in danger of "relegation" to the ranks of the game's also-rans.
In one of his most scathing statements since assuming the post of president, Hunte, who is attending a meeting in Dubai of International Cricket Council executive board members, said all stakeholders of West Indies cricket needed to take stock of what is happening on the global stage and double their efforts, as failure to do so could result in the team losing its pride and place.
Ranked number eight in the world ahead only of minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, the West Indies team, according to Hunte, is losing ground in terms of confidence and popularity on the international scene and for a team whose players are the third highest paid in the world - behind Australia and England - this was "totally unacceptable".
Start winning matches
"The West Indies team has to start winning matches against higher-ranked opponents or we will end up being relegated to being a second division international team," Hunte said in a statement issued by the WICB yesterday.
"We want our team to be number one both in performance and (player) emoluments. However, if we do not start winning we run the risk being relegated, and we will not be able to earn the money we require to regain our place at the pinnacle of world cricket.
"We need to synchronise all our various efforts and plans to achieve the short-term objective of getting higher up in the rankings," said Hunte.
"We have to widen our pool of talent; have a clearly stated and objective selection policy; increase the amount of cricket that is being played at the regional level; improve the standard of the players and teams in our tournaments. And, we must do it all very quickly. If not, we will not be creating history, as we did in the past. We will be history," the president added.
Questioning viability
Hunte's comments come after somewhat similar calls by popular television sports commentator Oral Tracy who, at the Grace Shield awards function on Tuesday night, questioned if West Indies cricket was still a viable product.
"The way the team is playing, and the seemingly irreconcilable chal-lenges it faces regarding insularity and culture differences, I don't know how viable West Indies cricket will be in the future," said Tracy as he delivered the keynote address at the schoolboy cricket function.
Hunte said he will meet members of the West Indies team and management upon his return from Dubai to discuss the team's performance and the plans to improve player skills so as to make the team more competitive.
Additionally, the WICB is expected to consider recommendations from its cricket committee for a new selection panel, given the fact that the contracts of the present members expired on June 30.
