Need for improvement: players and leadership are aware of need to win
As the West Indies endured another series defeat — in the T20I series against Pakistan in Florida — Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr Kishore Shallow offered a frank and sobering evaluation of the region’s cricketing crisis.
In an exclusive interview with The Gleaner, Shallow not only acknowledged the team’s continued struggles on the field but also highlighted communications with national players.
“We haven’t really been in the best of form, and we spoke to the players over the last 48 hours and met with them and the staff separately just to reinforce the importance of winning. Hopefully, that will inspire better performance going forward,” Shallow said.
Still, he insisted this is not the moment to panic — but it is time to act.
“Everyone needs to be on the same page, understanding our roles. But we need to start winning. The players and management staff have given us the commitment that they will be gunning to turn things around.”
Winning, Shallow emphasized, is the most powerful tool to rebuild belief and reconnect with fans.
“If you’re winning, you’re going to get fans coming out. It’s natural.”
No facilities, no results: The silent crisis of cricket infrastructure
For Shallow, however, the problem runs much deeper than wins and losses. The CWI president pointed to a chronic shortage of basic training infrastructure across the Caribbean — a failure that’s handicapping player development and performance.
“You have a player now who just finished playing Tests, he goes back to the territory and simply can’t find a facility to practice, whether a batsman or a bowler, and then you expect him or her, in the case of the woman, too, to come back to the international level without that sort of practice behind them?” he asked.
This isn’t a new issue — but one that, he says, the cricket community has avoided confronting for too long.
“We are not putting enough into our cricket across the region. This is the raw truth that I don’t think some people are willing to accept.”
The need for collective responsibility and immediate action
While funding remains a challenge, Shallow believes much more can be done with existing resources — especially if all stakeholders, from governments to private schools, come together.
“Everything don’t always revolve around money. There may be even in-kind services and contributions that we can make to the cricket that can be the catalyst of change. Things like getting private schools to pass policies that schools must play cricket or strengthening club cricket nationally, these things can be done right away.”
He highlighted small but impactful models already in motion — including a high-performance program in St Lucia funded by the National Lotteries Authority and fresh investments being made in Guyana.
Franchise system: a $4 million investment with unclear returns
One of Shallow’s areas of concern remains the region’s franchise system — originally envisioned as a stepping stone between domestic and international cricket. However, according to Shallow, it has yet to deliver.
“We are spending US$4 million a year on it, but it is not returning on that investment,” he said.
Shallow hinted at possible changes to the model, including redistributing funds to strengthen grassroots cricket or creating a dedicated “emergent” player pool to better transition talent into the national setup.
Hope remains — but only if change follows words
Despite the mounting challenges, Shallow maintained that West Indies cricket still has one thing on its side: talent. But without urgent investment and structural reform, that talent will continue to be squandered.
“This is not an overnight fix, but one thing is for certain, we have raw talent — we’ve never been short of that — but if we don’t put the infrastructure in place, if we don’t revise our system, we will keep falling short.”
As West Indies cricket continues to rediscover its once-mighty legacy, Shallow’s words serve as both a reality check and a rallying cry: it’s time to stop talking about rebuilding, and actually start doing it.
