Windies must rekindle passion: Walsh

Fast bowling great Courtney Walsh says the West Indies must rekindle their passion if they're to recapture their former greatness.

Of the countless problems embroiling West Indies cricket, fast bowling great Courtney Walsh believes his once mighty team's troubles stem from one factor.

And perhaps it is the most damning of all.

Sure the Windies team is battling with funding dramas, a fractured board and a wounded team that has never tasted Test greatness in 20 years.

But Walsh admits his lowly ranked team's major problem is simple - and it must pain him to say it.

"Over time you realise the passion isn't there as it used to be," said Walsh, now travelling with the team as a tour selector.

"And that's what we have to try to do. We have to try to rekindle that passion and that pride.

"I don't think there's anything else wrong with what we're doing."

The once unbeatable Windies have not won an overseas Test series of note in 20 years.

Such is the turmoil in the current team, coach Phil Simmons has only just been reinstated after being suspended for claiming board interference in squad selections.

Adding to the drama, the likes of former skippers Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo will feature in the upcoming Big Bash League Twenty20 competition rather than the Test series.

A recent board director even told Fairfax that he feared the Windies could disband within 10 years as a result of their continued failure.

No wonder few believe the Windies will take this week's first Test against Australia in Hobart into a fourth day let alone compete hard in the three-match series.

Walsh - who featured in the Windies team that went undefeated for 15 years in Tests from 1980 - admits it is no easy fix.

But he said he believed they were no lost cause.

"To be honest if we didn't have the ability I would say we would be struggling but the potential is there - they just have to go out there and execute," he said.

Asked if he was surprised at how quickly the Windies fell from the top, Walsh said: "The one thing that is against us in the West Indies is probably funding.

"We don't have the major sponsors to cover all the areas that will make things a lot easier and help us focus more.

"We are focused in patches which is the difference between us and (the likes of) England and Australia and New Zealand.

"They can channel their focus in the right direction - we don't have that luxury."

Walsh is part of the Windies support staff along with fellow greats Richie Richardson (team manager) and Curtly Ambrose (bowling coach).

He did not believe the presence of greatness would overwhelm their emerging team as they looked to finally step out of their shadow.

"You have to look at the here and now, what legacy you want to leave behind, how you want to approach it," he said.

"Remember those days and try and to rekindle it but don't use it to put you under pressure.

"We want to see the guys competing, to try and create their own legacy, to leave their own mark."


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Source: AAP


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