West Indies women must play Test cricket to improve

…says Sir Clive Lloyd

By Brandon Corlette

Legendary West Indies captain Sir Clive Lloyd has opined that the West Indies Women must play Test cricket to improve their all-round cricket.

The Caribbean Women’s team recently played at the ICC Women’s 50-Over World Cup in New Zealand and reached the semi-final.
“If you get to a semi-final, you had to play well to get there; but really and truly, although it was very close, some of those games, the point is that they were not consistent enough, and I think our problem is more or less not playing the longer game. All those teams that got up to the semi-final and final were teams that played Test cricket. The longer game takes care of your shorter game,” Sir Clive said on Tuesday’s Mason and Guest radio programme, aired on Voice of Barbados.

The Guyanese legend added: “When I was Chairman of Selectors, I asked the then President (of CWI) why we don’t try to get into the Test match arena, and he said they need three million dollars. I do not know if that is true or not, but the point is, if Australia do have over 2000 women playing cricket, and in the other countries they are a lot more, and we have only four islands that are playing cricket, we need to expand. The longer game will help the shorter game. We are developing cricketers to be ball-beaters when our players should be able to play longer innings; it helps their concentration and shot selection.”
The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be hosting the first Women’s CPL in 2022, while Cricket West Indies (CWI) will host the regional tournament. However, the level of women’s cricket played in the Caribbean on a consistent basis is not sufficient.
Sir Clive strongly believes that the women’s game must be treated as seriously as the men’s game in the Caribbean.
“I think we need to have a programme/competition just like we used to have Shell Shield, the same situation, so that our young players will have a breathing ground for younger enthusiasts. And we have to treat the women’s game just as the men is being treated; they must feel a part of this West Indian set-up. They must have an organization or committee that is affiliated to West Indies Cricket. It needs to be looked at seriously and treated seriously,” Sir Clive has explained.
At the recent World Cup, the mighty Australians emerged as victors, defeating arch rivals England in the final. Both of those teams are Test playing nations in women’s cricket, and the high-quality level of cricket played by these teams is evident.
West Indies Women had to play qualifiers for that World Cup, and to reach the semi-final, most people would have been satisfied, but to win a World Cup, more should be done.
During the World Cup, Hayley Matthews was the best West Indian player, with 260 runs and 10 wickets. Deandra Dottin had 199 runs, while Guyanese Shemaine Campbelle had 185 runs, and Chinelle Henry and Shamilia Connell each claimed seven wickets in the tournament.