Port of Spain: West Indies batting legend Brian Lara has termed the Caribbean cricket infrastructure as ‘terrible’ and said that unless the game’s administration is improved, just talent can’t pull the side out of the slump.

“We still have a very long way to go... I would not be surprised if we win a game because I know what we are capable of — sporadic, good sporadic performances — one here, one next year… But in terms of consistency, the West Indies lack that, and that is not something that you regain overnight,” Lara said.

“I think our infrastructure is terrible administratively… We have got it wrong on many occasions,” he added.

Lara, who scored 11,953 runs in 131 Tests before retiring after the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, said the West Indies need to plug the administrative loopholes first and then think of improving in a decade’s time.

“Our player-Board relationship has gone wrong for many years, gone sour…

“And we need to improve these things, fix it, set a base, get the infrastructure in and then think about five- ten years down the line.

“So it might be a dismal outlook, but if we keep just trying to put a plaster on every sore that we have, it’s not going to work. I hope one day somebody’s going to take it up and really get things going.”

The Windies had taken a 95-run first innings lead against India in the opening Test, in Delhi, but were then bundled out for 180 in their second essay as India fought back to win the Test.

Sammy and co. will now take on India in the second Test at the Eden Gardens starting from Monday.

“As I said, on any given day, I think we’ve got the best talented cricketers in the world,” said Lara.

“It’s always been the case over the years, since even before my days... Cricket has gone a long way now. Talent is only a very small part compared to 20, 30 years ago, when it was a major part… Physical fitness, talent used to play a bigger role.

“Now, with technology, there are a lot of things coming into play and I say it all the time… We, in the West Indies, take very good talent and make it average… And people in places like Australia and England and India take average talent and make it very, very good… That is where the problem lies,” he said.

Lara also gave his opinion on the current match fixing crisis saying: “It is unfortunate. Hopefully it can be a catalyst for total eradication of the problem, because this is a serious result for such a thing.

“Hopefully it is the last, as I said the catalyst to move to better things and to really clean up the game.”