(Trinidad Express) Former West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray says there is a need for proper development from the grassroots level straight up to the elite level.

And without proper administration of the game, West Indies cricket will continue to move backwards.

Murray was speaking on the Mason and Guest Radio programme in Barbados recently when he raised the issue of the administration of the game in the region.

He said with a proper development structure in place, players can be ready for the elite level earlier in their careers.

“If you are not getting the proper development, you are waiting until your 24-25 to get into a standard of cricket that suddenly helps you understand what that is. Whereas a proper development structure starting in primary schools will have you ready even in your teenage years to be able to compete at the top level,” said Murray.

He continued: “Until we get the structure of the administration of cricket right, the other things will fall by the wayside because there is no answerable entity for cricket.

“What people tend to focus on is the end product, a West Indies team in a tournament, World Cup qualifying or a Test series and that’s where it is visible to everybody. But you are not going to get the best standards without the development process,” Murray explained.

“We are, in a sense, as cricket administrations, our worst enemy in trying to fix the top without addressing things at the grassroots level and at (the) schools level.

“The conversations and meetings happening at the moment at the Caricom sub-committee level has to do with the governance of West Indies cricket, and that encompasses cricket at different levels and also cricket development and how do you manage a situation where we look at the development of cricket from the early years, primary schools to the top.”

“It is not just a question about coaching, it is how you play your cricket and how you develop your cricketers from there to the elite level,” Murray added.