West Indies vs England: Our cricket seems to be going in right direction, says Clive Llyod

Everyone says the West Indies are entertainers and six-hitters. There’s more to West Indies cricket.

I would want to think so. We’ve been champions for 18 years. You have to have some sort of intelligence to keep to that level for so long. I don’t think there’s been any other country that has dominated the game for such a long time. So, it’s not only about being Calypso cricketers. We are intelligent professional men and women.

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Can you draw parallels between West Indians of your time going to county cricket and now with these guys playing in all the leagues?

It’s given our cricket a lift, playing the IPL and the Big Bash and so on. You are playing against different people and in different conditions, learning different things about the game. County cricket was our sort of learning school. We picked up a lot, and became more professional. The same thing is happening here. We have some of the best one-day cricketers around. You are playing in India, South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh and some of them playing in England at the moment. It’s made them more well-rounded.

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Where do Windies score over other teams?

West Indies love hitting the ball, there’s no doubt about that. And we have some strong boys. I noticed Andre Russell the other day. We have net bowlers, and I fear for their lives when he’s batting. Then you have Brathwaite. You have the captain Darren Sammy. All good strikers of the ball. You notice that although Simmons is not as big in stature, he can hit the ball too. Johnson Charles too. Our fielding has gone up a notch too with the likes of Bravo and Simmons and it has come good at the right time.

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If you look at stats, everyone says you shouldn’t face dot balls. But West Indies have faced the most dot balls in this tournament. How does West Indies stay ahead of the rest?

It’s cricket intelligence. You have to go out there, you hitting balls for singles you’re still there. If you hit the ball in the air, you give the fielder a chance. The point is once you are in there long enough, you will be able to hit sixes and fours, which they’ve done. They’re strong enough to do that.

Sammy spoke about how his team is motivated by the feeling of this being them against the world. Has this us-and-them thought always inspired West Indies teams over the years?

We always feel like we are the bridesmaids and never the bride. Everybody has the money and we don’t have the people too. When we look at it, we have six million people, and all playing different sports. Our islands are sporadic. We are all over the place really. We are not one country like Australia, England or India. To bring all those people together is not easy. So captaining the West Indies is very difficult in that respect. Sammy has done a terrific job. He’s a great man-manager.

You have been one step ahead in every format over the years and it’s the others who have then caught up. You think you can revolutionize T20 too?

I hope so. We have players that can do well in this format for quite a while. If we lose a couple of players we have couple more who can come in. The U-19 guys have done well and we have to harness that talent to the higher echelons of cricket.

Our cricket seems to be going in the right direction. It’s been a pretty good 3-4 months for West Indies cricket. And to be in the final, both men and women, and the young U-19 side winning the World Cup, hope this is where it’s going to take off. I’m proud to know that I’m here and in my 50th year we could win two trophies.