Sir Vivian Richards has questioned the commitment of the current crop of West Indies players and has expressed his disappointment at the team’s performance and early exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Four teams remain in the World Cup – India, Pakistan, England and New Zealand – with the semi-finals looming. However, the West Indies did not get into the Super 12, the first time that has ever happened in the team’s history.
This latest embarrassment from the two-time world champions, has not gone down well with the Master Blaster who won two ICC World Cup titles with the West Indies in 1975 and 1979.
During an interview on the Good Morning Jo Jo radio show in Antigua, Richards did not hold back his feelings.
“I’m really, really, really disappointed. I honestly felt that they would have fought their way out of the qualifying stages to get themselves into the Super 12,” said Richards, who was recently named an ambassador for the Lankan Premier League.
“It didn’t look good at all. One of the things that really caught my eye, when we won against Zimbabwe, the way in which we behaved, liked we had won the World Cup, I felt we should’ve just calmed it down a little bit.
“This is supposed to be our best opportunity for us to win something at the international level because this is a team that showed that sort of prospect. This is where I think we have geared ourselves that if we were gonna win anything and win it quickly, it would’ve been the T20 World Cup. Because of that, I’m very, very, very disappointed. I’m not sure why, but I am.”
Some of the blame, Richards feels, should fall squarely at the feet of the players, whose loyalty to the region should be questioned; that they give the T20 leagues across the world preference over playing for the West Indies.
“It’s alleged that you hear players sometimes saying ‘CWI knows my schedule’ and stuff like that. That’s not the way it should be. You should be telling CWI what your schedule is and see the best way to work around it if your heart and soul is in representing the West Indies at that particular level,” Richards argued.
“But what I find is that there are some that want to go do what they like in terms of contracts they have with the various franchises. To come back and automatically get in when you have individuals who have been performing and being around and not basically getting a look in because of these individuals being favorites of such. I think we should at least have found a way earlier to nullify that and have the guys who are fit to play, and not the guys who pick and choose when they feel like playing.”