THE RECENT withdrawal of the senior players from the West Indies cricket team was a most unfortunate decision. The effect it had on West Indies cricket has made all stakeholders losers. The players have achieved nothing from this action, but the damage it has done to West Indies cricket cannot be repaired.

I have to commend the stand-in players who came forward and saved West Indies Cricket from even more serious damage. If a team was not found, it would have cost the board US$5 million. Who would have benefited from this?

Many people are blaming the board for the poor state of West Indies cricket. The main problem which has led to the decline of West Indies cricket is the decline in the quality of our Test cricketers. The long period when West Indies was the number one team in the world was due to the presence of stars like Greenich, Haynes, Richardson, Richards, Lloyd, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Roberts, Croft and Dujon. The current team has only one star on it and that is Chanderpaul. Out of 65 Test matches, this team has only won eight.

Brilliance

It is clear that our ranking at number eight in both Test and one- day cricket is primarily due to the poor performance of this senior team. The factor which made us number one was not the administrative ability of the board but the brilliance of the players.

I am, etc.,

LINDEN NEIL

Kingston 17