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‘Place more emphasis on the upcoming players’ – Sir Andy Roberts
Gives the Skerritt’s Administration 6 out 10 grade
Sir Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts was the ‘Father’ of the West Indian fast bowling quartet along with Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft which terrorised batsmen from the mid-Seventies to the early Eighties at both Test and ODI level.
Sir Anderson Roberts
The 69-year-old who was the first Antiguan to play Test cricket and paved the way for players like Sir Viv Richards, Richie Richardson and Curtly Ambrose, give his views on the Regional Franchise League, the selection of the ‘old’ players and the tenure of the Ricky Skerritt Administration while speaking on the Mason & Guest Barbados radio programme.
The 63-year-old Skerritt was elected CWI President on March 24 last year and next Tuesday will be a year since he is at the helm of CWI.
When asked how he rated the Ricky Skerrit Admiration after almost a year in office, Roberts said he rates any (Cricket) Administration by what is happening on the field and from what he sees he would give the CWI six out of 10.
Robert, Holding, Croft & Garner during the glory days of West Indies Cricket.
“At the moment we are still trying to mend fences between the Administration and some of the older players who are still playing…. the old folks…instead of focusing on bringing the younger players to the forefront since if those players can’t perform at the International level we are doomed. More emphasis should be placed on the younger players,” said Roberts who took 202 wickets from 47 Tests and 87 wickets from 57 ODIs in an International Career which lasted from 1974-1984 and included the first three ICC World Cups.
Roberts (24) shared in a 64-runs last wicket stand with Deryck Murray (61) in the 1975 World Cup as the West Indies beat Pakistan by one wicket in the final over in a partnership that caused traffic jams across the Caribbean and stopped Parliament in Guyana.
He give his view on the Regional First-Class tournament; “I think the Professional franchise cricket is not doing the work it was intended to do since we don’t see players coming forward and performing at higher
The 1975 West Indies World Cup team in England.
level. Players are doing well in Regional cricket but if they step away from that level you find them wanting,” said Roberts, known for his slower and quicker bouncers at the same height.
“One of the things that we keep running away from is that we keep placing all the blame on the Administrators and Coaches but we are giving the players a free pass. I will forever keep saying that if the players don’t accept 16 percent of the responsibility for their own development, we are not going anywhere,” stressed Roberts who captured 889 wickets from 228 FC matches between 1969-1964.
When Roberts first played an ODI in the 1975 World Cup his selection was based off his performance in the Gillette Cup in England.
“There was no elaborate preparation like now. As a matter of fact, I left straight from Hampshire and went to join up with the team.
I was a youngster. I’d only made one tour of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan by then. One-day cricket wasn’t new to me though, having played a lot of it as part of county cricket in England. The only thing that was strange was playing against so many top-class world-class players in the space of a month,” explained Roberts, who played County Cricket from 1972 and had to do a lot of work on his own.
“You get some hard-nosed (strict) coaches, some of the former players and you have to get the board out of the way, and also you get WIPA out of the way, because some of the things that the former players would say to these current players, WIPA maybe, would object to some of the things. But these guys need to be spoken hard to because they must realise it is not a bed of roses. It is hard work, it is commitment and you have to make sacrifices in order for you to get to the top and stay at the top,” Roberts stated.
Roberts worked with Bangladesh’s fast bowlers in 2001 and again in 2005 and also helped coach India’s seam bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan in 2006 when he became a West Indies selector but he lamented the present Board members don’t take his advice.
“They say I am old fashion because I want to see perfection and I don’t think they are looking in that direction,” said Roberts who still lives on the 108 square-mile Island of Antigua. (Sean Devers)
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