West Indies Fast Bowler Kemar Roach Highlights Lack of Quality Infrastructure as Factor in World Cup Failure

West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach believes the lack of quality infrastructure in is an underlying factor for West Indies’ failure to qualify for next month’s World Cup in India.

Roach was speaking from England during this week’s Wisden Cricket Podcast about the state of test cricket when he was asked about the region’s misfortune in white ball cricket after the West Indies failed to make it out of this summer’s World Cup Qualifier following losses to Zimbabwe, Scotland and Sri Lanka.

The 35-year-old fast bowler who is currently playing for Surrey said: “I know the guys are pretty disappointed about that. It says a lot to us about what we need to do to improve our cricket back home. I’ll be honest with you, the quality of cricket back home and the infrastructure is not great and a lot needs to be done. The people who are in charge of West Indies cricket really must sit down and have a serious, serious conversation and start acting these words in terms of improving the cricket. There’re a lot of simple things that need to be done.”

This year’s men’s World Cup will be the first one not to feature the West Indies with the regional side winning the first two editions of the Cricket World Cup in 1975 and 1979 which were hosted in England.

Roach, who has taken 125 One Day International wickets, believes the immediate priority should be placed on improving the quality of pitches which would aid the development of West Indies’ best young players.

“The pitches need to improve. We’ve been known for our fast bowlers for years, long before us. There is talent there, some serious talent in the Caribbean that wants to improve their skills and get better.

However, we don’t have facilities, we don’t have the pitches to accommodate that. For me, that is definitely the first order of business if I was president or if I was in charge of West Indies Cricket.”