West Indies team co-ordinator and former captain Clive Lloyd said lack of fitness lay behind the team's failure at the World Cup.
The World Cup hosts have lost all four of their games in the second-stage Super Eights and Lloyd believed the resignation of Australian fitness coach Bryce Cavanagh before the tournament was a vital factor in their elimination before the semi-finals.
"If you look at the opposition they were much sharper. We did better in the ICC Trophy [they lost to Australia in the final in India last year] because we had our fitness trainer and he did a lot with the guys.
"Although they probably didn't too much like his work ethic I think he did a marvellous job," Lloyd, captain of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup-winning sides, said on Saturday.
"Fitness is 60-70 percent of your game and that is something we have to look at for the future. Fitness is one of the things I feel strongly about.
"The game preparation has got to be much better," he said adding that the lack of fitness showed in the team's fielding.
"We were slightly under-prepared where training is concerned. We lost our fitness trainer and that is probably key," he said.
During their years of success in the 1980s, the West Indies employed another Australian fitness coach, Dennis Waight, who was credited with helping the team enjoy a reputation for excellent out-fielding.
Lloyd, who was drafted back into the West Indies World Cup set-up shortly before the start of the competition, said it is clear that major changes are needed in Caribbean cricket if the side is to return to the highest level in the coming years.
"We have the players -- it is a matter of having the right format to our cricket. Other teams are more ahead where technology is concerned; we are still scratching the surface.
"We have been talking about an academy to harness our talent -- it hasn't happened yet. There are so many things we need to do to get back into the arena."
Lloyd said that one of the major focuses should be to raise the standard of the intra-island competitions, possibly changing the formats.
"We must do something to improve our domestic cricket. It has got to be of a much better standard. We need the right people chosen for tests and one-day games.
"At the domestic level we must have trainers that are able to put them through their paces so it won't be alien to them when they come into the first team set-up," he said.
West Indies face Bangladesh (April 19) and England (April 21) in Barbados in their final two Super Eights games.
The seven-week World Cup, the first to be held in the Caribbean, culminates in the April 28 final in Barbados.