Once a legendary cricketer, Desmond Haynes is currently the chief selector of the West Indies men’s ticket team. A gun batsman during his playing days, Haynes believes a good player can adjust in all three formats.
With the landscape of cricket changing thick and fast, a lot has been spoken about how a player adjusts to all three formats of the game. The West Indies legend feels India and New Zealand are showing the path a good Test player can play any format.
In an exclusive conversation with Betway Insider, Desmond Haynes stated:
“I believe players should be multi-format cricketers. If you’re a good player, you can play any form of the game.”
He added:
“The players are the ones who make the decision on what format they want to play, but India and New Zealand are showing that if you’re a very good Test cricketer, you can play any form of the game.”
Speaking about the current crop of the West Indies players, Haynes, who played 116 Tests and 238 ODIs, said they lack the quantity of good players. The 66-year-old cricketer also asserted that ICC should take a proactive role in assisting the smaller countries to help in the development of the game.
“We’re always going to have talent in the West Indies, we are just a little unfortunate that we don’t have the numbers. We can’t really compare to places like Australia and India because they’ve got loads of players playing cricket, with the various academies around those countries,” Desmond Hayne said.
“I do think it’s important for the ICC to look at finding ways that they can assist countries like West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, those places with limited numbers, to try to find ways to make sure that when they split the pie, some of the smaller countries get a bit more money to help with cricket development. I think that’s something that is vital if you really want to have competitive cricket worldwide,” he added.
West Indies in recent times have failed to produce the desired results despite having quality cricketers in their ranks. While they have looked a good T20I side, their ODI and Test performances have been miles away from what is expected.
Everybody’s wanting to improve their standard of living – Desmond Haynes
When asked about that young cricketers are inclined towards big pay cheques in T20 leagues ahead of international cricket, Desmond Haynes feels if a player works hard on becoming a good cricketer, the financial side will look after itself.
“From my experience, everybody wants to play where there’s big money. At the end of the day, everybody’s wanting to improve their standard of living. But I always say to them, it is good to realise that you’ve got aspirations to get into the big leagues, but it’s also a very important for you to work on becoming a good cricketer. If you do that, the financial side will look after itself,” the Barbados-born cricket said.
“It is important to focus more on your ability, to keep working and also to look at self-development. You should always try to be knowledgeable about the game, try to seek information, try to pick the brains of some of the legends and some of the senior players. I guarantee that if you do that – do the right things, really look after yourself, and make sure that you’re fit – you will make a lot of money from the game,” he concluded.