‘I Don’t Think They Have Done Enough’: Sir Andy Believes Skerritt-Led CWI Neglecting Grassroots Cricket

CWI President, Ricky Skerritt (second from left), shares a light moment with former players Sir Richie Richardson (left), Sir Vivian Richards (second from right) and Sir Andy Roberts

By Neto Baptiste
Source  : Antigua Observer

Legendary fast bowler and the first Antiguan to play for the senior West Indies men’s team, Sir Andy Roberts, believes the current Ricky Skerritt-led administration has failed to deliver on promises to fix West Indies cricket.

Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Sir Andy said the body has not done enough to address the crisis on the field.

“I don’t think they have done enough for the cricket … I don’t mean for the West Indies cricket team because they seem to place more emphasis on the senior men’s team, the senior women’s team than on cricket overall. You have to develop from an early age and get the right people in the right place. If you’re depending on coaching then get the right coaches in the right place from an early age,” he said.

Sir Andy, who had supported Skerritt’s bid for election to the post in 2019, says the leadership has strayed from the original promise to put measures in place to combat the steady decline in the standard of cricket in the region.

“Ricky Skerritt had a 10-point plan and it would be interesting to know how much of that they’ve covered because, to me, that 10-point plan did not include cricket. It included something else because they didn’t put anything in place to develop cricket. [They] have a 15-man cricket committee when you could have had a committee of three — including current and former players and an administrator — and not one who has been sitting on the board for 20 or 30 years because the game has gone past that,” he said.

Skerritt and his deputy, Kishore Shallow, were elected for a second term as president and vice president of Cricket West Indies in April 2021. Elections are due in March this year.

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