Two legendary West Indian fast bowlers are speaking out about the problems in Caribbean cricket and calling for change. On the “Stick to Cricket” podcast, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose shared their disappointment with how West Indies Cricket is run, saying that former players who represented the region are rarely involved in decisions.
They made these points even though the West Indies recently beat Sri Lanka in a Test match, a fact both legends recognised during their interview with several former British players.
One issue they raised was the changes to the regional four-day cricket competition. Cricket West Indies (CWI) changed the format of the West Indies Championship for the 2026 season as part of a review of regional tournaments for 2026–2027. The goal was to balance top athletic performance with financial needs. However, both fast bowlers, who are among the top wicket takers for the Men in Maroon, said this was not a proper first-class season.
“To me, that’s not a first-class season,” Walsh said. “It’s not,” echoed Ambrose.
“You have to make everybody play with each other,” Walsh continued. “Like what you’re doing here in county cricket. We should be looking to play 10 games, minimum. I’ve said this from when I was playing. Our first-class season is too short. And they’ve got it shorter.”
The former bowling partners also said that the opinions of past great players are being ignored. Ambrose, who once worked briefly as the West Indies’ bowling consultant, remembered a conversation with President Kishore Shallow four years ago that seemed promising but yielded little fruit.
“A couple of years ago, when he became the president, I was in St. Vincent doing some cricket stuff. And he rang me up and said, ‘Listen, we need to go to dinner, we need to talk about West Indies cricket’,” Ambrose recalled.
“And I said ‘okay, great’. So we went to dinner and had a long talk about West Indies cricket – the kinds of roles he wanted the former cricketers to play. So I left the dinner feeling excited. I said okay, at least there’ll be a change. I haven’t heard from him since. So I got a free meal and a world speech, and then that was it. So I don’t know what’s going on. Strange.”
Of his short-lived stint with the men’s team, Ambrose said: “I mean to be fair, you know, I did two years with the senior team. From 2014 to 2016. We won the T20 World Cup in India, and then I was sacked. So I was sacked after winning the T20 World Cup. Maybe I shouldn’t have won it.”
The duo also took issue with Head Coach Daren Sammy being the “only selector” for the West Indies team, citing a need for further input from other cricketing minds.
When asked whether or not he foresees West Indies Cricket returning to its heyday, Walsh said: “I don’t see it in a hurry unless there are massive changes, grassroots level through the schools, in the territories, and at the highest level where the board puts some structure in place.”
If it’s not broken don’t fix it. The mother of all questions is,”In what direction are we currently headed”?We have had Clive Lloyd and other big names in the past in management positions. Compare then and now in my opinion, it seems like the timing of this complaint is out of balance and reasoning ! They should allow time for this current system to manifest before passing judgement. I too ,would like a peace of the pie !
This is my opinion, in the early part of the 20th century players played mainly for bragging rights, a trophy and popularity. Later in the 20th century some of the younger highly talented players started shifting towards economics, and rightly so. Now we are in the 21st century where we see athletes at the high school level signing NILs Name Image Likeness contacts with sneakers, apparel, and other types of companies for millions of dollars, and at the college level the NIL endorsements money gets even bigger. So, it will make sense if a cricketer passes up playing for the West Indies and even play village cricket somewhere that will offer a handsome salary, where generational wealth can be built, and a comfort retirement can be realized.