Having said that playing cricket these days is also about “making a living”, legendary batsman Brian Lara believes West Indies players cannot be blamed for choosing lucrative T20 franchise leagues around the world, including the IPL, above national duty.
The emergence of T20 franchise cricket has contributed to the demise of the West Indies, particularly in Test cricket, as several of the Caribbean’s top players have opted to pursue lucrative international contracts rather than play for their country in red-ball cricket.
When a young person of 18 or 19 declares, “I’m going to the IPL,” or “I don’t care about West Indies cricket,”… Lara said to “Sen Sportsday” that it wasn’t all his fault.
You might have been inspired or driven to play for your country (around) forty or fifty years ago. But since playing and earning a livelihood are the main goals of sport nowadays, we need to make sure that this is included in the overall package that we are offering,” the former captain, who is serving as the team’s mentor for the two-match Test series against Australia that begins on Wednesday, stated.
Lara acknowledged that it was challenging for the West Indies Cricket Board (CWI) to compete with successful franchise leagues across the world.
We must acknowledge the reality. The West Cricket Board finds it extremely difficult to compete with the kind of financial chances that our players have in the global franchise cricket game.” The West Indies Cricket Board needs to work to instill in the future generation the value of representing their region on the international scene, he said, since it would be challenging to alter the mindset of the current crop of players. He argued that efforts in schools and youth cricket need to be intensified.
Doing it with the current crop is not feasible. Before we bring them out on the international scene, I think we’ve got to go and get it into the schools and the age group cricket.
Prioritizing the younger generation, especially the teenagers, is vital, in my opinion. According to him, we must educate them about the value of West Indies cricket and how to preserve it.
A sense of allegiance to the Caribbean squad is vital, according to the batting legend, for cricketers from the West Indies.
Australia has taken that action. He stated that we have not developed the same level of loyalty to the sport in our nation as Australia or England, which do not simply pay their cricket players more.
