Former ICC boss calls for WI to be split into individual territories

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

Outgoing ICC chairman, Greg Barclay has suggested that the West Indies cricket team be split into individual island teams.

Barclay, who completed his term as ICC chair on December 1 and handed over the position to Jay Shah, said the current West Indies set-up was not financially sustainable.

“You look at the West Indies. I love what they’ve done for the game, but is the West Indies in its current form sustainable? Is it time for them to break into each of their islands?” Barclay questioned.

“The thing is, can they [West Indies] afford to [continue to play Test cricket]? They barely can make their books balance now.

“What they’ve achieved in cricket is phenomenal when you think that they are a group of disparate islands that don’t really have anything in common, other than cricket, and yet they’ve held themselves together for that period of time as the West Indies,” he added.

Barclay pointed to the fact that some international tournaments do not allow the West Indies to compete as a nation.

“But, I think one thing that will kind of highlight all that will be with the Olympics and other multi-sport events.

“They played cricket in the Asian Games last year in China. You’ve got the African Games, [where] cricket featured for the first time. They’re looking at the Pan American Games. So, when you’ve got all these multi-sport events, what happens then to the Windies?” Barclay asked.

“For the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Barbados turned up as the participants for the region. Is that a little glimpse of what the future looks like? I don’t know,” he said.