Windies Women lack passion

Lead selector for West Indies Women Ann Browne-John has echoed sentiments expressed by former team captain Merissa Aguilleira earlier this year that members of the current team lack the required passion for the game.

Aguilleira was speaking on Sportsmax’s Commentators Podcast in April when she made reference to the team’s 5-0 home series defeat by India in November 2019 ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia in February.

The team subsequently failed to advance from their group after losing two of their preliminary round matches. Another was rained out.

“Somehow the drive, the passion is not there and that’s a huge cause for concern,” Aguilieira said then. “We as West Indies players love to express ourselves, not just play cricket but have fun playing cricket, so when you look at the players and you realize they are not having fun, you realize that the passion is not there.”

Following their recent 5-0 drubbing at the hands of England, Browne-John said that lack of passion remained an issue of concern.

“We would like to see the passion we had before,” Browne-John said during an interview on Sportsnation Live on Nationwide Radio on Jamaica on the weekend.

“I have been involved with the team over a length of time even before I became a selector and that is one of the things I always hear the coaches mention to the girls. They want to see the intensity, they want to see the drive, the passion that we are supposed to have.”

The issue has been the subject of conversation on a number of occasions, she revealed, adding that she believes that the players have to embrace the idea of taking responsibility.

“It has been discussed a lot whether it is a lack of confidence, whether it is a dependency on one or two persons, and we always try to say to the girls, each individual must take responsibility. If you are batting at the top and opening, then you must take responsibility. If you are batting at three or four, anywhere you are you need to take responsibility for that position,” Browne-John said.

“Hopefully by doing that we could see some of the passion and drive coming back, but I am agreeing that we are not seeing that at the moment.” (SportsMax)