Reds Perreira: 6IXTY will not help West Indies cricket
Published:Sunday | July 17, 2022 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
VETERAN CRICKET commentator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira is of the belief that the newly formed 6IXTY cricket tournament, set to bowl off on August 24 at Warner Park in St Kitts and Nevis, will not be of any significant benefit to West Indies cricket.
Perreira, speaking to The Gleaner, labelled the upcoming tournament a “white-ball television product”.
“I really don’t see it (6IXTY) helping West Indies cricket. It’s good for the sponsors, it’s going to make good television, players will be paid, and it probably will bring in revenue to the hosting territory (St Kitts). Those are the things you can’t ignore, but from a cricket point of view, I think it’s just another white-ball television product,” said Perreira.
Perreira was speaking in the context of the West Indies years-long struggle to keep pace with the other leading cricketing nations. An issue Perreira has tackled on many an instant.
PERREIRA NOT CONVINCED
Perreira was also not completely convinced that better cricket was on the minds of the organisers.
“Probably the persons behind are not really interested in any development programme, but maybe just finding something that will be popular,” said Perreira.
The commentator, to date, has covered more than 150 Test matches and says he is seeing where other teams are finding ways of using the shorter versions of the game to improve the more traditional versions.
The England Test team with new head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, Perreira says, evokes memories of watching former Guyanese and West Indies captain, Sir Clive Lloyd, during his leadership of the West Indies team from 1974 to 1985.
“With the aggressive field placements, I’ve seen from Stokes, that really brought me back to the glory days of the West Indies team under Sir Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards, where we had strength in batting, bowling and fielding. We would just win the toss, despite every indication, saying you should bat, we (West Indies) would say ‘you bat first’, and chase whatever total is set on the last day and we would win. England’s current set-up reminds me of that kind of period,” said Perreira.