Only a day after West Indies endured considered one of its worst performances in practically a century of enjoying Test matches, the president of the Caribbean cricket board was wanting to the previous to enhance the long run.
WICB president Kishore Shallow on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) mentioned he plans to enlist Caribbean cricket greats similar to Viv Richards and Brian Lara to help a West Indian lineup that scored simply 27 runs in its second innings – one run wanting the all-time Test document for low totals — whereas shedding the third of three Tests to Australia.
The batting collapse continued a sample for the West Indian Test team — it hasn’t gained a Test sequence since 2022-23, when it beat Zimbabwe within the Caribbean.
Since then it has drawn three and misplaced 5 sequence. It was swept in 3-0 over the previous couple of weeks at residence in opposition to Australia, culminating within the humiliating defeat within the third Test on Monday.
Shallow had seen sufficient.
“The result hurts deeply, not only because of how we lost, but because of what West Indies Cricket has always represented to our people: pride, identity, and possibility,” Shallow mentioned in an announcement.
“There will be some sleepless nights ahead for many of us, including the players, who I know feel this loss just as heavily. We are in a rebuilding phase, steadily investing in the next generation, and reigniting the spirit that has long made West Indies cricket a force in the world.”
Indeed it was a power. By the late Nineteen Seventies, the Caribbean aspect was recognised as unofficial world champions, a title they retained all through the Eighties thanks to batters like Richards complemented by feared bowlers like Curtly Ambrose.
Now, Richards, recognized fondly at instances as Sir Viv after receiving a British knighthood for his providers to cricket, shall be a part of the rescue bundle. Shallow mentioned he had ordered an emergency assembly to assessment the Australia Test sequence, “particularly the final match.”
Some of the quick bowling produced in opposition to Australia within the sequence resembled the times when West Indies’ pacemen dominated the world of cricket, however batting deficiencies let the team down badly.
“To strengthen the discussions, I have extended invitations to three of our greatest batsmen ever: Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Brian Lara,” Shallow mentioned. “They will be a part of previous greats Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Desmond Haynes and Ian Bradshaw.”
Lloyd, who is 80, was a West Indies captain and leading figure of the team’s overwhelming success in his era. He scored 19 centuries in his 110-Test career that ended in 1984. The 73-year-old Richards scored 24 centuries in 121 Test matches.
Lara, who retired in 2006, scored 34 centuries in 131 Tests. He holds the record for the most runs scored in a Test innings — 400 not out against England in 2004. It remains the only quadruple century in Test cricket.
It’s not clear whether the support group will help in the shorter formats of ODI and Twenty20 cricket. West Indies have had 3-0 series losses this year to England in both formats. On the plus side, the Caribbean team drew an ODI series and won a T20 series in Ireland.
Shallow insists he’s not paying lip service to the chaos surrounding the Test team, which played its first Test matches in England in 1928, losing the series 3-0.
“This engagement is not ceremonial,” Shallow said. “These are men who helped define our golden eras, and their perspectives will be invaluable as we shape the next phase of our cricket development.”
