The West Indies Cricket Board commissioned a special three-member group to review the poor performance of the Windies team at the last T-20 world cup when the team made an early exit.
The group was tasked with the job of discovering the root causes of the poor performance of the team and making recommendations for improvement.
The group was chaired by Justice Patrick Thompson Jr., a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and included Brian Lara, the West Indies batting legend and current IPL T20 Head Coach, and South African international cricket coach, Mickey Arthur.
The group has already submitted its report to the President of the WICB, Ricky Skerritt, who has lauded their efforts and noted that he is looking forward to the Board implementing the recommendations as soon as possible.
Justice Thompson who presides over the high court in Nevis recently sat down in an interview with local Sports journalist, Curtis Morton and spoke freely about the report.
Some of the established pointers that were revealed were:
• The team did not get an opportunity to properly acclimatize to the conditions in Tasmania. They left right after CPL from the sunshine in the Caribbean to play in wet and cold conditions.
• The outfields were a lot bigger than those in the Caribbean and so six-hitting was not as easy, and many batsmen were easily caught in the deep.
• The batsmen generally showed that they were inept at playing spin—or better put, slow bowling.
Justice Thompson also indicated that the Board and the players need to come to an agreement that is generally pleasing to both parties in terms of proper contractual arrangements. This should see the players in a position to effectively support their families and at the same time, give full commitment to West Indies Cricket.
Justice Thompson used the opportunity to appeal to all cricket lovers and supporters of the game to be mentors to upcoming cricketers in as many ways as possible.
He also appealed to young cricketers to stay focused, train and practice hard, as ‘what you put in, is what you will get out.’