KINGSTON, Jamaica— Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange has called for a “coming together of all stakeholders” to fix Test cricket in the West Indies.

The minister, speaking to a Jamaica Tallawahs Team Breakfast at the Melbourne Cricket Club this morning said Test Cricket in the West Indies is facing a catastrophic situation and requires immediate action to pull it back from the abyss into which it seems destined to fall.

“While I am happy to say that CPL and Twenty20 cricket are growing and doing well across the Caribbean, I am saddened that I cannot truly say the same about Test Cricket in our region”.

“Ladies and gentlemen, today I make a special plea, echoing those who might have gone ahead of me: it is time for all West Indies cricketing interests to come together; it is time to forget the egos, to get over ourselves and to focus on West Indies cricket,” she said.

“I am not here to lay blame this morning. Frankly, there’s enough to go around. What I am here to say is that the solution will require a coming together of all the stakeholders. And therefore I urge our administrators, players, governments, and others knowledgeable about and interested in West Indies cricket, including our journalists, to let us come together in a grand coalition to save West Indies cricket.”

“At this time, I am not prescribing how the coming together should be operationalised but I daresay that our decline is proportionate to our disunity. No one remains on top forever. But, we’ve been down for far too long,” said Grange.