Twenty20s hurting West Indies – Lloyd

Clive Lloyd said West Indies’ more experienced players are opting to play Twenty20s ahead of Tests, hurting their five-day team.

The struggling Windies have come under fire after being embarrassed by Australia in the first Test in Hobart.

Their performances have cast doubt over their Test status and Lloyd – a Windies great – said older players were letting them down.

Now the chairman of selectors, Lloyd said players had turned their attention to T20s.

“It is a hard task, there’s no doubt about that, because we don’t have much experience,” he told Channel Nine.

“Somebody like [captain] Jason Holder should be able to have some experienced players there, but whenever we’ve asked them to take part, the guys are going for the shorter game.

“You can’t blame them, but the point is I don’t think the public are realising what has transpired during the last couple of years.”

The likes of Chris Gayle (Melbourne Renegades), Andre Russell (Sydney Thunder) and Lendl Simmons (Brisbane Heat) are all in Australia for the Big Bash League.

Lloyd pinpointed that trio as being capable of adding something.

“They would’ve added something to our batting,” he said.

“Somebody like Lendl Simmons in the middle order, who can play pace and spin.

“You have Andre Russell, who is a terrific cricketer.

“Chris Gayle is more or less, I don’t know what he’s doing at the moment, if he’s coming back to Test cricket, so you’re left with a conundrum I suppose.

“You can’t really say these are guys that you can depend on because they have now decided, well, hey.”