WI CEO slams ICC for sabotaging cricket in Caribbean

Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Jonny Grave slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for not supporting the board financially and alleging that the world cricket is doing everything in its power to make sure that cricket in the Caribbean is never strong again.

Grave's comments come after two big moments in the history of West Indies cricket that have happened within the last year or so. Last year, WI touched the lowest of lows by missing out on the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time, by losing to Netherlands, an associate member of ICC, in the tournament qualifiers. The tournament which was dominated by West Indies in its starting decade with two title wins and three final appearances, lacked the Caribbean flavour in India, where West Indies cricketers are heavily popular due to their involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

But after the WC, West Indies recorded two encouraging ODI and T20I series wins against England, the current holders of the ICC T20 World Cup. Then came one of the highest points of the region's recent cricket history, as a 24-year-old pacer Shamar Joseph emerged out of nowhere with a spell of 7/68, guiding WI to their first Test win on Australian soil against the mighty Aussies in 27 years back in January.

Talking on the Wisden Cricket Monthly Podcast, Grave said that he is sick of the phrase that the 'world cricket needs a strong West Indies' team', especially when it is doing all it can to weaken it.

"I think everyone is a bit sick of the phrase - world cricket needs a strong West Indies - when we feel that world cricket is doing everything they can at almost every level to make sure that West Indies Cricket is never strong again," Grave said.

Grave said that if the world wants the WI cricket to regain its strength, it has to allocate more money for it. He pointed out that the Windies' revenue share in the current ICC revenue model has fallen to just five per cent. He questioned if with this unfair sharing of revenue, is the cricketing world acting as a community and putting the best quality of sport on the field.

"I think that is the borne of the frustration of that as Ian Bishop says in his own words that this is a patronising tone. If you want a strong West Indies Cricket, it would not be that hard to do a bit more. ICC is giving us more money in headlines but our percentage of revenue has gone down from 7 per to 5 per cent, which we struggle to understand," Grave added.

"If we all just are looking after ourselves then are we acting as a community? Are we putting the best product on the field?" concluded the CWI CEO.

West Indies' next assignment is the ICC T20 World Cup, which it will co-host along with USA from June 1 onwards. They recently played a white-ball series against Australia, losing both the ODI and T20I series of three matches back in February.

The West Indies managed just one victory at the 2021 T20 World Cup in Oman and the United Arab Emirates and then failed to qualify for the Super 12s stage at the most recent tournament in Australia 12 months later.