‘Time for full evaluation and accountability’- Pres. Ali says systems failing in West Indies cricket

President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said it is time for ‘full evaluation and accountability’ after West Indies disastrous performance against Australia in the third and final Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

Set a target of 204 to avoid a 3-0 series whitewash, West Indies were dismissed for a hardly believable 27– their lowest Test score and the second lowest ever in the history of the format.

President Ali, who is the current Chairman of the CARICOM Sub-Committee on Cricket, highlighted that ‘an entire system that is failing’ needs to be fixed now.

“It is time for a full evaluation and accountability to the people of this region for the disastrous batting performance of the West Indies Cricket Team. We cannot disregard what all of us witnessed and endured in the last three Test matches,” the Head-of-State posted on Tuesday.

“This is not about our players, administrators, or any individual; it is an entire system that is failing, and together, all of us must fix it now. This cannot continue into another series; we must not allow it to.”

Following the West Indies’ catastrophic defeat, Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr. Kishore Shallow issued a call for ‘collaboration, not division’, a posture he believes must be adopted ‘if we are to truly move forward.’

CWI has since extended invitations to three former players- Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards– to take part in an emergency meeting following West Indies‘ 3-0 series loss.

The West Indies greats will join Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Desmond Haynes and Ian Bradshaw on the Cricket Strategy and Officiating Committee to review the team’s “deeply disappointing” performances over the past few weeks.

The total was just one run better than New Zealand’s Test-record low of 26 in 1955, but it was 20 runs short of West Indies’ previous worst total of 47.

It was the first time in Test history a team recorded seven ducks in an innings and the six runs made collectively by West Indies’ top-six batters was the lowest in any innings in Test history.

West Indies will next take on Australia in a five-match T20I series starting July 21, before hosting Pakistan for a white-ball series in August.