Kemar Roach Echoes Ravichandran Ashwin's Views, Urges Cricket West Indies To Improve Infrastructure In Caribbean

The 35-year-old West Indies National Cricket Team pacer Kemar Roach has echoed the views of Indian cricketers Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya and has urged the Cricket West Indies (CWI) to improve the cricket infrastructure in Carribbean.

India recently toured the West Indies for an all-format series. During the tour, the players were left disappointed with the lack of facilities and the likes of Ashwin and Pandya openly criticised the Cricket West Indies. Ashwin also blamed the poor infrastructure for the downfall of the West Indies cricket.

West Indies failed to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India after they performed poorly in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe. This edition of the tournament will be the first where the two-time World Cup winners will not feature.

In an interview with the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach said that they are extremely disappointed for not playing in the World Cup. The 35-year-old believes that the quality of cricket and infrastructure in Carribbean is not in a good state and there is room for a lot of improvements. He is also hopeful of the CWI bosses taking the necessary steps to improve cricket in the Caribbean.

“I know the guys are pretty disappointed about that. But it says a lot to us about what we need to do to improve our cricket back home. I’ll be honest with you, the quality of cricket back home and the infrastructure is not great. And a lot needs to be done,” Kemar Roach said.

“People need to sit down and have serious conversations in terms of making things happen. Not just talking about it but making stuff happen in terms of improving cricket in the Caribbean. This is definitely an eye-opener. Obviously after our struggles in recent T20 World Cups, that’s all a build-up of what has been happening back home and it’s now transparent everyone is seeing it now.

“I really, really hope that for the next four years, the people who are in charge of West Indies cricket really sit down and have a serious, serious conversation and start acting these words in terms of improving the cricket and there’s a lot that needs to be done a lot of simple things that need to be done on.”

The pitches need to improve – Kemar Roach

Kemar Roach further talked about the things that need to change in Caribbean cricket and the first thing he mentioned was the improvement of the quality of pitches.

“Oh boy, you could be here all day,” said Roach when pressed on what he’d change if he were in an administrative role.

“Simple things, man. The pitches need to improve. We’ve been known for our fast bowlers for years, long before us. And there is talent, there is some serious talent in the Caribbean that wants to improve that wants to get better.”

“But we don’t have facilities, we don’t have the pitches to accommodate that. So for me, that is definitely the first order if I was president or if I was in charge of West Indies cricket.”

Notably, Ravichandran Ashwin had also pinpointed that the pitches have become slower in the West Indies, and in the name of maintenance, the curators are doing nothing.

“The pitches have become slower in West Indies. We should put a lot of effort into pitch maintenance. They are just cutting the grass and rolling it through in the name of pitch maintenance. I have already spoken about this topic. That’s the easiest way to prepare a pitch. Because then the pitch will become dead and slow.”

“Once the cut grass gets air and with time, the pitch will start turning. Obviously, there was a bit of effort in pitch maintenance during the Test series from their end. But their infrastructure is not up to the standards when compared with other international teams,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.