Former fast bowler on West Indies’ failure to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, and its potential impact on players, fans, and the sport in the Caribbean
Raunak Kapoor02-Jul-20233:10
Ian Bishop: ‘The warning signs have been there since 2018’
As someone who grew up watching an era of West Indies cricket that you did, then going on to play for them with pride, and having since followed them in recent years, what are your emotions on the team not making it to a World Cup?
It is a difficult day, and difficult to sum up. To not have West Indies as part of the World Cup is, to me, unimaginable. I can echo the sentiments of many fans and West Indian supporters, of whom there are still many.Coming at the back of the 2021 T20 World Cup disappointment, and then not making it into the main round of the 2022 T20 World Cup, it is a stifling reality of where the [West Indies] cricket is at the moment. Not just being with the Associate nations, but that some of those nations are beating you quite convincingly. So there’s a lot of work to be done almost immediately, because the talent level, which I know there is, deserves better representation, or certainly a bigger need to express itself.Related
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The results from the recent ICC events you speak of, do they give you the feeling that something like this was on the cards? That this was always a possibility? And does that make you feel like this slide could have been arrested sooner?
Yes, it has been a gradual decline. I’ve always said this pre-dates this group of players. We haven’t played consistently good ODI cricket against the top nations for perhaps a decade now. The T20 team, after having been two-time champions, they have slid. So like big corporations who were at one time at the peak of their powers, and then through, I suppose, a lack of vision or whatever you want to call it, they disappeared off the business scene, [and that is what has happened] for West Indies cricket, two-time world champions, who popularised the field for ODI cricket.I know there has been some introspection that has been taking place in the Caribbean. But what this does is, it says that we are at a few seconds to 12, and we need all hands on board to get the representation back to where it needs to be.Dejected West Indies players leave the field after their loss against Scotland•ICC via Getty ImagesWill all hands be able to come together to face the big challenge that faces West Indies cricket at the moment? The Shimron Hetmyer situation is one that no one seems to have benefitted from. And it’s not as much about Hetmyer alone as it is about the feeling among fans. Are the West Indian players motivated enough to play for West Indies?
I think some guys are. Obviously you are going to have a few guys [who are not]. And the cricketing landscape is very difficult right now with all the franchise tournaments coming into play. So there’s always going to be that draw and pull of your resources. And so that is a challenge that is set forth, it is not an easy one. I don’t have all the answers. You need to be more specific, as I have said before, with talent identification, procurement and development. Because that is a challenge of the landscape.I still see young talents coming through, like Jayden Seales, Alick Athanaze is another, a kid named [Kevin] Wickham just to name a few. But how you expedite their development and keep hold of them is the challenge. And again I will say there have been efforts to make better pitches, better infrastructure, but it just really tells us that these things need to be hastened.When you talk to young West Indies players and cricket fans, do you sense that there is a deep understanding or appreciation of what the West Indies and their cricketing history is, which I’m sure was so deeply motivating for you? The emotions that brought this multi-national cricket team to play together, do you believe those are still there with the next set of players and young fans?
I think it is a different time. What motivated Sir Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes and Clive Lloyd, globalisation has sort of dissipated that. So the motivations are now different, and I accept that. If it is more financial and economic, then we have to ride with that time and provide experiences and platforms where the players gravitate towards that.I wouldn’t say that the pull that was evident for the players of the ’60s and ’70s should be the same in the 2000s. So we have to identify what the myriad desires are and they will be different for each player and just work with those desires, because there is still, as I speak to players, a desire to play for West Indies, but there are not as many of that calibre as there may have been in times past.
“I still see young talents coming through, like Jayden Seales, Alick Athanaze is another, a kid named [Kevin] Wickham just to name a few. But how you expedite their development and keep hold of them is the challenge”Ian Bishop
It’s not an easy job, administration in West Indies cricket. Are there any specific suggestions you would want to give to the people managing the game in the Caribbean to now try and build a path forward?
There are many things and again I am not going to pretend to sit here and say that I have all the answers. It is always going to be a challenge with so many disparate nations and constituents trying to evolve their own base. But what we have witnessed and have been witnessing over the last decade, or two decades, is that the fractionising of these goals is not working. Other teams have got better. The Associates have got so much better, and they don’t fear, certainly, teams like West Indies anymore.So how do we come together and create better coaching, coaching tutors? How do we create an even more professional franchise system in the Caribbean, whether T20 or red-ball cricket, and have everyone pulling in the same direction? That is something I cannot answer. But we need to, because I do not see going it alone, as some people say in the Caribbean for Trinidad or Jamaica to go alone, [will work]. To me, that is not a relevant idea.We have changed captains and coaches. We now have to give support and time to the incumbents and make sure we give them the support staff. Zimbabwe, in this tournament for example, have done it with minimal playing resources, so why can’t West Indies if they concentrate on their pool?So in Shai Hope and Daren Sammy, both relatively new in their roles, do you believe backing them is the right thing to do, because there would be reactions to this result?
Well, you have to because it is systemic. It’s not just about the incumbents right now. We have changed it from Phil Simmons, Ottis Gibson, coach X, captain X, and while the results have not been this desperate, we saw a gradual decline. So once you have identified those guys and put them in place, give them as much support but you are holding them accountable. And just to be fair again, this slide has not just begun. This has taken decades and a couple of generations to get to this point. So all of us, who have had past associations with West Indies cricket, have to introspect and ask ourselves, “What could we have done better and what can we do now?”Can Daren Sammy revive West Indies cricket?•Getty ImagesIs there a feeling that perhaps it had to get worse before it got better, and maybe this is a rude wake-up call for players, or everyone else in West Indies cricket, to miss out on a World Cup? Could that trigger the right reactions?
Being away from the tournament now, you would hope that is the case, but I do not believe it had to get to this point for it to rectify. West Indies barely qualified out of the 2018 qualifiers. So that was a warning sign then, and there were four years in between to try to rectify that and it hasn’t happened. So more synergy in the infrastructure and the structure is required.I think once you have identified who the right people are, you have to give them at least a medium term, a length of time to allow them to make an impact. Short-term changes don’t help in any shape or form, but there is still hope there for me. I still keep hoping. I see some of the talent on the ground. I know their desire to do well. It is all now about how we procure that. I don’t think it is rocket science.Is there anything you would like to say to the past players of West Indies, the greats who I am sure will all have plenty to say at this point? Do they have a role in helping this team that is hurting right now?
We all have a role to help in whatever sphere or activity, including myself. In whatever impact we can have talking to current players, developing young players. I won’t pretend to be able to articulate how past players who have helped to build this house feel right now. I know fans are angry, they are coming at me as if I run the show. But I accept their feelings.And I just hope that we can build from here. They say it’s only cricket. But cricket has a significant impact on Caribbean identity around the world. So it is as serious as that. It is not education, it is not healthcare, but it has a role, and we really need to have an impact to get it right.Finally the fans, is there something you would like to say to put into perspective the emotions of the fans, given at this point they would be hurting from this result and at the same time, the concern that the absence from a World Cup might affect the popularity of the ODI format, if not T20I and Test cricket, in the West Indies?
The Test team in the Caribbean has sort of been holding its own, particularly at home, so that should give hope. But I understand from a fans’ point of view, whether they are West Indian fans in the Caribbean or beyond the borders in India, Pakistan, England, Australia. I understand the sentiments. They are hurt. All I can do is promise that in my little sphere of impact I will do my best and I am sure there are some good people working on the inside who are trying to find the right way to rectify this, so if I may be able to speak on behalf of them, we try to give the players all they need to succeed.Not everyone will get to the promised land, but those who want to get there, hopefully they can resurrect and continue bringing West Indies cricket back to a place of excellence and relevance.You remain optimistic that that day could come in the near future?
Yes. We’ll never dominate like we did in the ’80s and the first half of the ’90s. I think other teams around the world are too good. We have serious economic challenges in the Caribbean, which the authorities around the world have to look at. But I still think when I look at, for example, where Zimbabwe were, and the troubles they have gone through, and how well they have played in this tournament, I think we have enough there to do even better next time around, if there is synergy.