Haynes: Region still in the dark

One Of Barbados' most illustrious cricketers feels the region has not kept pace with international developments.

Desmond Haynes, Barbados' most capped Test cricketer, also wants to see more professionalism in the West Indies.

'We are about 24-25 years behind,' he told participants during the opening session of a historic cricket conference at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, yesterday.

Lack of facilities for night cricket and a lack of exposure to everyday cricket at a professional level were among the reasons he identified for the decline in West Indies cricket.

He was quick to point to the part the English county system had played in the development of West Indians.

'We knew that we are good players, but somehow we went over there to put in the finishing touches,' he said.

He pointed to the example of Sir Vivian Richards, but others such as Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts also had a significant impact on the county scene.

'England has helped our cricket. There is no question about it. We do not play enough cricket here, so we have got to go some place where we can play cricket every day in order to learn to improve our skills,' Haynes said.

'If you are playing cricket every day and you don't improve, something is wrong,' added the scorer of 7 487 runs in 121 Tests.

The former West Indies vice-captain was also disappointed that there were no grounds in the region capable of hosting night cricket in spite of the fact that this version of the game was introduced more than 20 years ago.

'The young West Indian players now will have to play night series in Australia or anywhere else in the world without getting any sort of practice under lights,' he said.