Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
“We want to have a clear avenue for players who are playing first-class cricket to go on to play international cricket”
The West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) director of cricket Richard Pybus has announced that he wants the country’s domestic cricketers playing more matches.
Pybus’ comments come just prior to the start of the Regional Four Day Tournament, which is the West Indies’ first-class tournament.
“We need enough volume of games,” Pybus said. “The Nagico Super50 was very exciting, but in reality, we need more games to give players more opportunities to put the numbers together in terms of volume of runs and volume of wickets taken, so they can put pressure on the incumbents in the West Indies set-up and put the selectors under pressure. That is a huge priority for us.
“We want to have professional set-ups like there are overseas in county cricket, state cricket and franchise cricket. We want to have professional set-ups where we have full-time staff who are supporting full-time players and that is the ultimate goal.”
Pybus added that the West Indies have a number of promising local talents, but the WICB need to ensure they play more matches in order for them to have successful international careers.
He added that implementing such measures would help the West Indies become a cricketing powerhouse once again.
“That is not going to make us the best side in the World,” Pybus said. “If we were running a race it will be like us catching up to the top sides in the World. That is a key priority for us – to actually get to the starting line, so we can run an equal race.
“We want to have a clear avenue for players who are playing first-class cricket to go on to play international cricket.
“First-class cricket is not the finishing school for international cricket. Our players need to be learning and growing their game so by the time they get to the international set-up, they will be up to the fitness standard, the skill-sets and the understanding of what is being a professional player.”
The Regional Four Day Tournament gets underway on February 28.