Ex-cricketer Andre Lawrence: Windies sink deeper into crisis

VIDIA RAMPHAL

WEST Indies’ Test team has suffered a disastrous 2025, losing six of seven matches and raising urgent questions about the direction of the regional game.

The latest setback—a nine-wicket loss, inside three days, in the second Test against New Zealand—has intensified scrutiny of both leadership and selection policy.

Former Trinidad and Tobago cricketer and current cricket analyst Andre Lawrence has warned that an inconsistent selection policy and flawed tactics are eroding recent progress.

“This run of results is particularly damning, given where the team seemed to be just a short time ago,” Lawrence said.

“When you consider that West Indies beat Australia away and drew a Test series there, and then competed strongly against India, to now be winless in 2025—it is very, very worrying,” he added.

The slide has coincided with the appointment of former West Indies captain Darren Sammy as head coach of the Test team.

Sammy replaced Andre Coley on April 1 this year, after the Jamaican led the Test team to their historic win over Australia in 2024, and signed off with a 1-1 draw against Pakistan in January 2025. Since then, the team was swept 3-0 by Australia, crashing to a record low of 27 in the 3rd test, and lost 2-0 to India in October. Even in the most recent series against New Zealand, a resilient rearguard in the opening Test was overshadowed by defeat in the second.

Lawrence says “chaotic” selection policy is at the heart of the current debacle.

“What we’re seeing is a completely chaotic sense of selection policy, and that has become a disaster,” Lawrence. “The entire middle order, with the exception of Shai Hope, has looked dismal.”

“There’s been no stability, no clear roles, just constant change.”

Lawrence says that Sammy has attempted to bring an aggressive, Bazball-style approach to the West Indies Test team.

However, he says, bringing in T20-type players into the Test set-up has backfired.

“You don’t improve Test results by bringing in average T20 players and hoping they magically perform in a Test scenario,” said Lawrence, “Test cricket is a completely different dynamic, and it demands a different way of thinking over a period of time.”

“T20 cricketers are conditioned mentally to last eight or ten overs at best—you cannot simply throw that mindset into Test cricket and expect it to work,” Lawrence explained.

The cricket analyst also notes a disturbing trend by Sammy towards the neglect of specialist roles in the team.

“You’re making wholesale changes in specialist positions—openers, middle-order batter, wicketkeepers—and that is doing real damage,” he said.

Lawrence also raised questions about Sammy’s credentials and the decision by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to grant him sweeping authority over all formats and selection.

“He came in with question marks over whether he ever had the credentials to coach, far less coach a Test team,” said Lawrence.

“When a man has complete control as head coach and selector and the results are this poor, serious questions have to be asked,” he added.

CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow acknowledged that he was “not satisfied” with the team’s performance during a recorded statement on December 7.

A few days before, Shallow supported Sammy in a radio interview with Isports i95.5FM, saying he had no intention to fire the head coach.

Despite this backing, Lawrence insisted that accountability is important.

“Everybody has to be accountable. Accountability is a big thing in international sport,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter because we’ve been losing for 30 years. That’s certainly just not acceptable. Everybody has to be accountable for their results. He has been doing, unfortunately, a very, very poor job,” Lawrence added.

The timing of the crisis is particularly concerning.

The New Zealand series marks the start of a new ICC Test cycle, and Lawrence is worried about the impact on the next generation of players.

“What worries me most is that we’ve entered a new ICC Test cycle and have discarded players who are in their prime and who could have supported the next generation,” he said.

Lawrence’s warning is stark: without urgent intervention, West Indies cricket is at risk of another prolonged period of decline.

“I am very, very worried in this future. I didn’t think that could get much worse, but it’s very clear now that it probably will.”