ACCORDING to former West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh, there is more to be done by the various territorial boards in the region if the standard of the local game is to improve.

Walsh, the first bowler to 500 Test wickets and Bangladesh’s interim coach, said he doesn’t think the territorial boards are putting in the kind of effort that would bring about much-needed change at that level.

“I am not 100 per cent sure that they are because I don’t know the fine-tuning of everything but I think that is where we could probably improve a little bit …

They are going to tell you they need funding, so if we could get the funding to play more cricket like in Antigua or in Jamaica where the senior cup is being played then they have the all-island tournaments, it is more exposure,” he said.

Walsh believes there are steps being taken to improve the cricket at a regional level, pointing to the number of games being played in regional tournaments.

But at the territorial level, Walsh wants to see more.        

“We had a tournament once that was assisted by the board where Sir Curtly Ambrose, Stuart Williams, Sir Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper, myself, Philo Wallace and Patterson Thompson just to name a few, went to play semi-pro in Jamaica and we played for different teams and to me it was very good and things like that I would promote, I would want to see it happen again,” said Walsh.

“We have the 50-overs tournament going on now (annually), the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) is about to start and I was happy they went back in the First Class of having two rounds so we have 10 games; so having all that being done then I can’t come back to criticise,” he said. (Sportsmax)