Former West Indies captain Brian Lara has highlighted the failure of their cricket board to lure the best players with adequate incentives to play for the team as one of the reasons for their dwindling fortunes.

He noted that players like Nicholas Pooran are retiring early to play in various franchise leagues, where they can earn more money.

“You have a lot of guys who are deciding on what to do with their careers. You have your aggressive players like Pooran, who retired at 29. And honestly, it’s pretty clear why they did. There are five or six leagues around the world, and they’re able to make a substantial amount of money playing in them,” Brian Lara said on ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast hosted by former England players Phil Tuffnell, David Lloyd, Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook.

“I have no problem with that. The truth is, I don’t think the West Indies cricket board or the administration has done anything meaningful to keep players loyal to West Indies cricket, unlike what boards in countries like England, Australia, or even India have done.

“So naturally, our players are going to look elsewhere. And when you see players like Kane Williamson or even South Africans making similar choices, you understand that these guys are just trying to provide for their families.”

Lara had been invited for an emergency summit by Cricket West Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow along with Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, following the Test team’s 27 all out against Australia at Sabina Park.

Clive Lloyd has already said “all aspects” of the game needs to be examined.

“We have to examine all aspects of West Indies cricket from grassroots to the international level,” Lloyd said in a statement provided to ESPNcricinfo. “Everything must be looked at closely and carefully. West Indies cricket is an institution. It has given so much to the people of this region and we must do all we can to revive it.

“I’m always available to help in any way. How we can marry the ideas we have with what is necessary and have healthy discussion on the way we move forward. It has been nearly 100 years since we have been playing top-class (Test) cricket and we have to get it right.”

Lloyd also said that the nature of the pitches in the Caribbean needed to be
addressed to nurture talented batters.

“We need a couple of Larry Gomes, more batsmen like him,” Lloyd said. “We need batsmen who put a heavy price on their wickets. There is nothing wrong with digging in and ‘batting ugly’. We have to find ways of fighting, occupying the crease, and staying in for long periods to wear down the bowlers. We have not been doing that.

“We have to go back to the basics. We have to look at schools’ cricket, club cricket, first-class cricket... are we playing enough? We also have to look at the pitches — how are we preparing them and how they are playing.”