Tuesday, September 26 2006 13:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: West Indies cricket has been in decline for a decade and even head coach Bennett King, the first foreigner entrusted with leading the side, doesn't know what the future holds.

One thing he does know is that more money and commitment from authorities in the Caribbean islands is essential if they ever want the team back at the zenith of a game they used to dominate.

Currently, there is very little incentive for youngsters in the West Indies to make cricket a career while in other countries, academies nurture their talent.

"They are still very passionate about cricket in the West Indies but we just haven't had the money to move forward with some of the other countries in terms of how they have developed," King, an Australian, says here.

"Academies have actually been disbanded because of lack of finances. Those academies elsewhere are mostly government-funded."

He is referring to the Shell Cricket Academy of St George's University in Grenada, which is recently closed due to lack of funds.

Aside from the current squad of 14 they took to Malaysia for the DLF Cup tri-series, there are only four or five others knocking on the door, which is indicative of the state of West Indian cricket.

"They are very well looked after in the school structures over there but once they get out to their independence, there is not that support or the finances or the facilities for them to keep working on their game," says King.

"For cricket to become a career, you need to have a good set of resources behind them. At the moment, we would still be considered amateur in that phase."

In an impassioned speech earlier this month, Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell urges a more professional approach from everyone involved in the sport in the West Indies.

"Cricket is no longer a hobby, it is a professional sport which requires a professional approach," he says.

"The West Indies Cricket Board, the Players Association, governments and the private sector throughout the region must work together to adopt a transparent, efficient and sustainable approach to the financing of cricket."

One ray of hope is the World Cup next year, which the West Indies is hosting.

King hopes that the new stadiums being built will prove to be the backbone for the future of West Indian cricket. But he is still awaiting assurances.

"What the World Cup will bring us is good venues but those venues need to be up kept, to be at the beck and call of the cricketers for training," he says.

"Those are the questions we have been asking and at present we haven't had answers."

"A lot of governments own the stadiums. Will they charge for West Indies series? I don't know. Will they have full-time grounds people to look after the wickets? I don't know. No one can answer me these questions."

He adds that some cricketing countries, like Australia and India, understand that sport can boost tourism and bring in revenues, but the West Indies seems to have lost sight of that.

"Some governments take more of a vested interest in their sport because it helps attract tourists. It helps the nation look like a strong nation," he says.

"But in the West Indies, well, those are questions that the West Indies governments need to answer."

Despite the lack of resources and financial backing, King retains confidence in the current squad, which lost in the final of the DLF Cup tri-series to Australia on Sunday (24 Sep, 2006).

"I'm like a compass and I try and point them in the right direction but ultimately it is what the players do on the field that matters and how they approach their training," he says.

"We can try and motivate them as much as we like but ultimately the players themselves have to be the ones to bring it home for us."