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[caption id="attachment_20551" align="alignnone" width="580"] West Indies manager Joel Garner in discussion with Phil Simmons at Queens Park Oval. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Debasis Sen, Port of Spain: Legendary West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner believes a full developed first class programme will help improve West Indies’ fortunes at international level. While the Caribbean side has excelled in the Twenty20 format, their plight in the 50-overs and Test format is well known as they lie eighth in both these forms of the game. And even though the West Indies Cricket Board recently expanded their first class competition, Garner said this may not yet be enough to help return the regional side to the higher echelons of world cricket. The Team Operations Manager of the West Indies cricket team interacted with the media on the sidelines of Queens Park Oval. Here are the excerpts: Q: Disappointing loss for West Indies but Roston Chase’s century was a bright spot. How important are these moments going to be for West Indies going ahead, especially given the lack of focus on Test cricket? A: We have challenges. You can’t fix them with one-off performances. Most of our challenges are coming from tiny territories where cricket is played at the local level. What you see is what we have at regional level, what we put at the international level. But if we are serious about our cricket then we have to be serious about the developmental stage. Q: Looking at the squad, how much hope do you have that West Indies will be competitive again in about two years? A: We always had promise. We always had the players. Most of the players are identified. The problem is they don’t work hard enough. If every player is prepared to work as hard as they need to, we can reach the top of world cricket. Q: With new fast bowlers like Alzarri Joseph and Miguel Cummins coming in… lot of inexperience in the West Indies pace attack. Is a healthy pace attack key to West Indies’ fortunes in Test cricket? A: The key to West Indies cricket is to get a team that is performing, a team that stays fit and a team that is improving. You have to start at some place and if you are starting with a young squad then it takes some time and patience. The way to go about it is to encourage the young fellas to work harder and improve with every performance. If you look at the Indian team, the number of games they have played and the number of games West Indian fast bowers have --there is a vast difference. Even though your bowlers might be new, they have got some experience. We have got fellas who are in early 20s and who would be playing for 2-3 years. All we can do is to keep working with them. Q: You were talking about the number of games West Indies are playing is a little less. What’s your opinion on the proposed two-league system in Test cricket? A: Well, I wish them luck if they want cricket to remain with the big three or big four. The only way you can get into the two-tier system is by playing against teams that are above you in the table. How can you get in if you can’t play teams that are above you? The question is, what purpose does it serve? Are you trying to preserve Test cricket or are you trying to keep it to a chosen few? I can’t answer this question for you because if the only way you can preserve Test cricket is to let people at the lower level play against teams above them to be able to compete and to be able to gauge the progress. Q: What are the areas you think the West Indies players need to work harder on? A: The longer they bat in the middle, the easier it becomes to bat. That is something I would like them to do, not only batting long but bat effectively. If you look at it, partnerships are important in any cricket game. The reason we were able to save the game in Jamaica was we had batting partnerships. Ig you don’t get the partnerships, you won’t get the performances. It’s important to look at how we prepare and how we can build on the performance in Jamaica. Q: There is close competition for ICC’s No. 1 ranking. India can become No. 1 if they can beat West Indies in the fourth Test. Do you think India can maintain a stranglehold as No. 1? A: No, no. You have got Sri Lanka currently playing Australia and Pakistan playing England. Those are the teams in the top five. It all depends on the results you get. Who knows, by the end of the Test series, Pakistan could be right there. It’s an open season.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KO3CSuUOnE