Show us respect, says Windies chief

THE Englishman charged with leading the renaissance of Caribbean cricket is hoping West Indies’ first Test domination will bring them the respect they deserve.

Johnny Grave, chief executive of the West Indies board, was angry at the English ignorance in the run-up to this series in expecting Jason Holder’s team to provide easy opposition, reports Paul Newman.

Now Grave – the man who carved his reputation as one of the game’s best administrators at Surrey and the Professional Cricketers’ Association before agreeing to head the latest Caribbean rescue mission – hopes the extraordinary Barbados Test will change opinions.

“There always seems to be a bit of an undertone when people talk about West Indies,” said Grave. “Our players are trying to live up to some of the greatest names that ever played the game and if people like Geoff Boycott are always going to compare them they are always going to be considered average or ordinary.

“To suggest that Kemar Roach, who has taken so many wickets with the injuries he’s had, is ordinary? Then you’ve got Jason Holder, the best all-rounder in the world. People say Ben Stokes is worldclass but they don’t say the same about Jason and I find that inconsistent.

“It’s just not right and it’s my role as chief executive, especially being English, to say ‘Come on, have some respect’. I can say to anyone who underestimated us ‘Look guys, you’ve got it wrong. Give these performances the credit they deserve’.

“I was particularly upset at the suggestion this wasn’t the best West Indies Test side. It was the equivalent of someone in the Caribbean saying ‘What on earth have England turned up with? There’s no Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen or Graeme Swann’. The players missing from our side left Test cricket for T20 years ago.”

Grave is hoping West Indies can prove this is no one-off by going on to complete a series win that would mean everything to the people of this proud region.

He added: “I didn’t have a problem with anyone criticising us at Edgbaston in 2017 because it was a woeful performance – a bit like England’s here – but when India got bowled out cheaply in England last year that was fine! But if it happens to West Indies everyone is up in arms saying ‘They shouldn’t be playing Test cricket; why are they bothering?’. Everyone else is allowed to have a bad day at the office apart from us.” Daily Mail