West Indies cricketers impacted as Chinelle Henry joins WBBL’s Brisbane Heat
Had Henry not been called up to the Heat squad to make their debut in the Australian T20 competition, he could well have found himself in danger.
Selected as Brisbane’s third pick in the International Player Draft, he was tasked with being the middle-order hitter needed to get his team into title contention.
From here, the chance to feature for the West Indies ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup in England will present itself in the hope of helping restore the country’s cricket landscape to its former glory.
For two decades into the 21st century, the West Indies were the juggernaut of world cricket; all-time greats Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara, as well as many others, created an unrivaled aura.
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The revolution in T20 franchise cricket and the financial opportunities on offer has coincided with their decline on a global scale.
The men’s Test team fell to eighth place in the world and ninth place in one-day cricket, while the women’s team failed to qualify for the last ODI World Cup for the first time in 25 years.
Years of failure triggered an overhaul of the game, with past greats including Lloyd and Lara rebuilding local roads in the Caribbean and creating a unified system of national development from schools to elite levels.
Henry, who grew up with a background in sprinting in athletics, said a transformation was ahead of us that could spark a new dawn for the game.
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And he believed a change of pace was afoot at the last World Cup, where India claimed the title against South Africa courtesy of Heat newcomer Jemimah Rodrigues’ semi-final century.
“There’s a lot going on in West Indies cricket and whenever there’s a match or a series, the first comment a lot of people make is: our cricket isn’t what it used to be,” Henry said.
“I know a lot of people, myself included, that every time we wear that maroon we are actually fighting for the badge. It’s about continuing to trust and believe in the process that one day we will get back to being the team everyone is used to talking about.”
“Australia is the best team when it comes to women’s cricket… but it was really nice to see two teams that haven’t won the World Cup in the final. That’s something for everyone to look at.”
