West Indies cricket greats have a big role to play in the development of the sport in the region.
However, according to Desmond Haynes, they are not being used to their full potential.
The former West Indies opening batsman believes that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is missing out on opportunities to help promote cricket through the use of the game’s legends.
Haynes, who is the coach of the Barbados Tridents in the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL), dismissed the notion that the only manner in which they could be of use is by being either a coach or a manager.
“I know a lot of people might say that we got a lot of opportunities to coach and to be managers, but there are positions which we could have held that would have helped with the whole development of cricket, more so than even being a coach or a manager,” he insisted.
“And yes some of us did get those opportunities, but I don’t think that we were managed well enough.”
Haynes said that although the legends had long retired from playing cricket, they still had a large fan base.
This, he said, could be used to help promote the regional side during overseas tours.
“I think what we need to do is to get our youngsters seeing us, just like how people today still buy a Michael Jordan shirt.
“When you are talking about situations where the West Indies is going on tours, the legends have got to be the ones who are marketing the cricket for the West Indies,” he said.
“We have guys like Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge, who still carry a lot of weight and can do a lot to enhance the whole package of West Indies cricket.”
Haynes said that the time had come for the legends to once again play their part in reviving the sport.
“I think it is about time now that people stop pushing us back and stop feeling threatened by us. There is no need to feel threatened by us. We played cricket at a time when we were doing really well.
“And although we have seen a void in West Indies cricket, we always felt that if we could do anything in our power to get West Indies cricket back to the top we were always willing to do it.”
