Richie Richardson is considered as the last member of the West Indies’ golden generation. On the eve of the country’s 500th Test match, Richardson, the manager of the current West Indies side, described the journey to a group of Bangladeshi journalists in St Lucia. Here are the excerpts:
Q: Can you describe the journey towards the 500 Tests?RR: Well, I have just only been here for the last 30 years or so. It’s a very proud moment for us, very small nation to produce so many world class, so many great players. It’s a very remarkable achievement. I feel very, very proud and I know all West Indians are very proud of what we have achieved over the years. We are pretty small nation, very small population, limited resources, so what we have achieved over the years a lot of credit has to be given to the administrators, players, all the fans – everybody, you know, played a role in West Indies cricket.
Q: How it all started and came to this position. Can you say it in a nutshell?
RR: Obviously I would have felt proud if I had known how we started playing cricket. Obviously it would have been very, very difficult in the past. But as I have said we have always produced world class players, exciting players, great talented players and I believe that cricket is in our gene, we will always produce great players.
Q: Can you single out few events that made you proudest as a West Indian?
RR: Well, for me I remember there was a period when we were the best team in the world, for a number of years, quite a long time. Usually no team dominates any international sport for that period. So to me that was really the proudest moment for West Indies cricket the fact that we were able to beat everybody at home and away.
Q: You are the member of golden era. But now West Indies cricket is not as good as it used to be back in the 1980s. How do you see this?
RR: Well, you know I am a practical person and I also know that the world is round. Things always do not go about how you want it to go. What is important is that we do whatever is necessary to get us back up the ladder. It’s been quite a while since we are not in the top three or four. Our goal is to be number one again and we are working hard towards that. WICB and all other stakeholders are aware of what we have to do in order to get us back [into the top]. And the numbers have been put in place. The latest one is that cricket in West Indies is going to be professionalised. All the regional teams will have professional set-up and I am sure that will help propel us back to our glory days. The young players need to be exposed to professional cricket in their early age when we do have an organsied structure. And the West Indies Cricket Board is putting that in place and hopefully that will be a success. It’s not going to be easy. It requires lot of resources, lot of time, lot of energy.
Q: Can you recall the 5-run defeat to Australia in the World Cup semi-final in 1996 when you were the captain. That was considered as the end of West Indies’ golden era.
RR: Yes, I remember that match pretty well, I believe if we had beaten Australia in that match, we would have gone on and we would have beaten whoever we get in the final. It was Sri Lanka at that time. But for some reason something went wrong. Up to this day I don’t know what happened. I knew before that match Australians were tired, they played lot of matches but they just did not look ready. On the other hand, we knew that if we beat them we will be up for something great. But for some reason something happened within the team, perhaps the players were too relaxed, I really don’t know. It’s hard, it puzzled me up these days because we actually were relaxed and allowed Australia to beat us.
Q: When you retired West Indies still had one great player in Brian Lara. But now there is hardly any world class player in the West Indies side or any global superstar. Can you explain the reason?
RR: Well, I don’t know. It’s difficult to explain. [But] we have talented players. We have Sunil Narine, who is a world class player, he is number one or two in ODI bowling ranking. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is still in top five. Samuel Badree is number one in Twenty20 cricket. Chris Gayle is known as the most destructive player, especially in Twenty20 and one-day cricket. Kemar Roach has just entered into the top 10 [in Test ranking]. So we have players who are capable of being world class. But just as a team we are still battling to come back up the ladder. We just got to keep fighting, keep working hard and I am confident in time you will see our team rising again.
Q: Every great team goes through a transitional period. If we say West Indies are passing the phase, do you think they can be the world beaters again?
RR: Well, you don’t know. Anything is possible. The way cricket is just today with all the technology and the support and everything, I think it might be difficult for anyone or any team to dominate in that way for that long. Because people have all the technologies and things keep changing, so it’s going to be very, very difficult. I am not saying it cannot happen, but it’s not easy because all the teams are improving every time. Even Bangladesh, they are improving fast. So it’s going to be difficult I think. But anything is possible.
Q: Whom do you think the greatest West Indian cricketer? Can you mention one name and why?
RR: I don’t think I can mention one name but I can mention a number of great players. We had Sir Garfield Sobers, Vivian Richards, and Brian Lara. We also had Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs and you know Andy Roberts as fast bowler.
-With New Age input
