Lloyd urges T20 stars to focus on longer formats

He believes that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the international T20 stars need to compromise to find a way of returning to play regional cricket outside of leagues such as the Indian and Caribbean Premier Leagues.

“We should want to play all our types of cricket in the same manner. We have to give our best One-Day players a reason to come home when the T20 competitions are over. Our guys tend to stay away when the franchises are finished. Let’s get them home.

If we’re not working in unison with them, they’ll never come home,” he told ESP N.

On Test cricket still being viable to the Caribbean pool of players, he stated, “Test cricket has to be an attractive proposition to West Indians. It’s very different for a young English cricketer who dreams of playing for his country. We are people from islands and territories. Our experience has always taught us that we need to make as much money as we can as fast as we can. So I fully accept that these men have to be paid properly.” He continued, “but at the same time we have to have standards.

There has to be a minimum requirement for our batsmen. You can’t be averaging 20 in First Class cricket and be getting a year-long contract to play for the West Indies. We’ve been lax on that in the past.” Lloyd. who garnered criticism during his stint as chief selector, talked about the state of Windies cricket on a domestic and international level, calling for more mentorship for the up-and-coming bunch. “I’m sad, I’m exasperated, I’m angered about the situation, but I keep hoping. Many times I say to myself ‘it looks like we’ve turned that corner’, but, well, it’s looking like a very long corner. All my hopes rest in our young cricketers, but we don’t do enough talking to our young people. They need to have more mentoring from people who they can trust. Not just from people with a list of qualifications after their names, but from men who can tell them how they can get through difficult situations.” However, he remained optimistic that Test cricket would not die in the West Indies once players dedicated the same T20 passion to the longer formats. “I think there are still quite a few people who want to play Test cricket, and people will watch if they see us trying to do well.

People back winners in the West Indies, and that’s why they’re backing the guys who are making money from T20 nowadays; because they’re doing well,” he concluded.