Former Cricket West Indies (CWI) Chairman of Selectors, Sir Clive Lloyd wants to see women playing red ball cricket to attain a higher level and playing the longer format of the game will help do that.
Speaking on the Mason and Guest cricket show in Barbados recently, Lloyd told host Andrew Mason that despite women getting into the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand recently, “they weren’t consistent enough.”
“The point is if you get to a semi-final, you have to play really well to get there but although some of those games were really close, the point is they weren’t consistent enough and I think our problem is more or less not playing the longer games,” Lloyd said.
“All those teams that got up to the semi-finals and final — England, Australia and South Africa — were teams that played Test cricket. The longer game takes care of your shorter game,” he added.
England has four-day competitions and one-day competitions.
Lloyd also wants to see an expansion of women’s cricket in the region and wants it to be taken seriously by the region’s administrators.
Lloyd explained: “We need to expand. We need to get more people playing and the point is the longer game will help. We are developing cricketers to be ball-beaters when we need our players to be able to play longer innings to help their concentration and shot selection.”
