Brian Lara included in three-member panel to evaluate West Indies’ T20 World Cup debacle

The West Indies faced a shock exit from the First Round of the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2022 held down under. Now, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has named a three-member panel to evaluate the early exit and the dismal outings the side endured in the matches.

The Windies were left stunned in the very first match as they suffered defeat at the hands of Scotland but somehow bounced back with a win against Zimbabwe in the following game. In their must-win fixture against an in-form Ireland side saw them lose yet another match and had to head back home with an exit from the event.

The management and the team have received a lot of criticism, and many members of the cricketing fraternity have demanded personnel changes. Ahead of the forthcoming ICC events, the legendary Brian Lara and veteran coach Mickey Arthur were included in a three-member independent panel to conduct a comprehensive review of the World Cup debacle.

“The three-member panel will submit a report to the CWI Board of Directors, with relevant insight and clear recommendations. It is also intended that this review will establish a process and template for future performance reviews. The Terms of Reference (TOR) will be published,” CWI said on Wednesday.

"It is vital that players, coaches, administrators, and all of us who love West Indies cricket, recognize that creating a sustainable learning culture, throughout the organization, is a prerequisite for player growth and team improvement," CWI president Ricky Skerritt said.

"Emotion-based and knee-jerk type decisions have failed CWI repeatedly in the past. I am confident that this independent World Cup review process will produce findings and learnings that should be of great benefit to our cricket system going forward,” concluded the CWI president.

Following the exit, WI coach Phil Simmons confirmed he would be stepping down from his role as head coach by the end of this year.