It's Not Going To End Well For West Indies Cricket Or Cricket In The Caribbean, Warns Deandra Dottin

It's not going to end well for West Indies Cricket or cricket in the Caribbean, warns Deandra Dottin (Image Source: IANS)

T20 World Cup: Deandra Dottin, who retired from international cricket last year, has warned the West Indies to improve and put things right in order, otherwise, cricket in the Caribbean will be going on the path of "not ending well", adding that players need to be given better resources and respect.

In August last year, while playing for Barbados in the Women’s T20 event of the Commonwealth Games, Deandra announced her international retirement, with 143 ODIs and 127 T20Is against her name, along with a 2016 T20 World Cup title and a 38-ball century in 2010 edition, which is still the fastest hundred in Women’s T20Is.

"To be honest, there's been a lot going on in the camp and so much I've been through, so many things that needed to be sorted out, and the players not getting the respect and basically the attention because there are things that needed to be done for players to actually perform to the best of their ability," she said.

"If you're uncomfortable and if you don't have the things in place for your players to be the best that they can be and actually improve then there's always going to be problems. It has a lot to do with the board, how they handle stuff and how they handle players and how they actually speak to players," she added.

"Certain people take things differently, so it is a lot of work that West Indies Cricket will need to do and I think they need to do it as fast as possible because it's not going to end well for West Indies Cricket or cricket in the Caribbean," said Deandra to ESPNCricinfo’s Ladies Who Switch podcast.

West Indies reached the semifinals of the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup at home and the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand. But in the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, they failed to reach the knockouts as they could win only two group games.

Deandra, who now plays franchise T20 cricket all over the world, has asked for better support for West Indies cricketers, citing the example of teams like Australia and England, considered leaders of the women’s cricketing ecosystem.

"They need to take a leaf out of Australia and English books, where they have players that when they see potential in them they develop them from whatever stage they are, so that when they actually get into that senior level it's like they have played there before."

"You will see a player come into West Indies Cricket and then you actually see they disappear. It's probably because of their fitness or whatever the case may be, but in that case, if I see you struggling with something, then I want to help, I would want to help you in order for you to get better to play West Indies Cricket. But my thing is that it's basically like you're getting what you want out of me and then you just throw me aside."

"I don't think that that should be, as players, not even players that actually retire either. You should actually show the players respect because they were once West Indies players and they were once doing well for West Indies Cricket so why take them and disrespect them and just throw them aside like a wet rag?" she concluded.