Former West Indies fast bowler Winston Benjamin has issued a stark warning about the state of regional cricket, asserting that the game is ‘literally dead’ due to a chronic failure to nurture talent from the grassroots level upward. The Antiguan, now a Leeward Islands head coach and owner of the Grassroots Cricket Academy, painted a grim picture of the sport’s current trajectory during a recent interview.
However, he insisted that recovery is possible, provided that patient, structured development becomes the priority.
‘Our cricket is literally dead, and we have nothing coming through,’ Benjamin declared. ‘We don’t have the patience, and we’re not promoting cricket from the grassroots level upwards. We’re hoping that somebody comes through the crack, and when they come through, they have a lot of incorrect fundamentals.’
Benjamin singled out two promising young talents to illustrate his point about the region’s impatience with emerging players. He cited Windward Islands batsman Alick Athanaze as a player with the raw tools to become an international great, but warned that the system is failing to nurture him properly.
‘I’m going to call a name now, and I am not plugging for anybody, but let us look at a young guy from Windward Island named Alick Athanaze. He has talent, youth and all that it takes to become an international great, but I think we just don’t have the patience,’ Benjamin said.
He also referenced teenage prodigy Jewel Andrew, suggesting that the young player was thrown into the deep end without adequate preparation.
‘Then they have a young Jewel Andrew that we throw him in. As we were talking about learning to swim, you just throw him in, and you- it’s either sink or swim or hook or duck. Patience again, now he’s on the outside looking in,’ he added.
Beyond impatience, Benjamin aimed at what he views as a dangerous trend, which is encouraging young cricketers to gravitate toward the game’s shorter formats far too early in their development.
He argued that this approach undermines the technical foundation required for long-term success.
‘We are the ones who are teaching them or encouraging them to go into the shorter version at an early age,’ Benjamin said. ‘We can’t now decide that you don’t have control; you have control, and your control is at this particular age group. We are not going to encourage or provide the opportunity for you to be playing that kind of cricket at that early age.’
The former fast bowler did not mince words when assessing the current crop of so-called elite players, asserting that their fundamentals are ‘found wanting.’ He placed the blame squarely on the development system, not the youngsters themselves.
‘When we look at the fundamentals of the players that we have that we call elite, it’s found wanting so it means that we are failing our youngsters, and then we’re blaming the system,’ Benjamin said. ‘We are not providing them with the necessary tools to face the outside world in terms of cricket.’