“That is not a fault of the player” - Brian Lara opens up on West Indies’ 27-run disaster against Australia

Brian Lara defends West Indies players after their 27-run collapse against Australia, blaming systemic issues and franchise cricket’s rise. Legends like Lara, Lloyd, and Richards are set to meet in an emergency summit to revive West Indies cricket.

By Waqas 17 Jul 2025 in Cricket

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Former West Indies batter and commentator Brian Lara has finally opened up on the national team getting bundled out for 27 runs in the fourth innings of the pink ball Test against Australia in Kingston as they lost the Test series 0-3.

Interestingly, the West Indies got all out for the second-lowest Test total, going past New Zealand’s 26-run lowest Test total, set in 1955. Notably, the West Indies ended all three editions of the World Test Championship at eighth position.

Furthermore, another important aspect that’s worrying the Caribbean national team is that their players are prioritizing franchise T20 cricket over their international commitments, with Nicholas Pooran being the latest to announce his international retirement at the age of 29 to focus on T20 franchise leagues across the world.

"We played first-class cricket and some of us even played county cricket to try to get into the West Indies team. We are now using the WI as a stepping stone you know to, as a stage for us, to get contracts around (for franchise cricket circuit) and that is not a fault of the player you know,” Lara told Stick to Cricket podcast.

After the 27-run disaster, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr Kishore Shallow had called upon the legendary cricketers Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, and Viv Richards for an emergency summit to help WI cricket come out of this major debacle.

Furthermore, the former England cricketer and commentator David Lloyd also highlighted the structural inequalities in global cricket as one of the reasons behind the contribution to the downfall.

"The big three (England, Australia and India), that can't be right that they take all the money, they get the big broadcast deals. You've got to have a more even distribution to allow West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka to compete,” David Lloyd said.

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