All boards should get equal financial support to look after cricket: Clive Lloyd

When he was asked "is the financial clout of the three superpowers — the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), England Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) — hampering the equality of cricket", the Guyanese-British former cricketer said, "Everybody should get the same thing."

"Look at the English Premier League. Manchester United is not getting more than Liverpool, or Arsenal is not getting more than Chelsea. They all are getting the same," said Clive Lloyd, adding "the same thing should happen when cricket is concerned. You must have enough money to look after cricket."

The 79-year-old former cricketer said these on Thursday in Kolkata during an event of Adamas University where he was honoured by the Rice Group-owned university with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kolkata-based doctor Sukumar Mukherjee, writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, poet Joy Goswami and former cricketer and current president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) Snehasish Ganguly were honoured with the Adamas Excellence Award in the programme.

Talking about the recent controversy over the Cape Town pitch which recently witnessed the shortest-ever Test match between India and South Africa, Lloyd said, "There was nothing wrong with the Cape Town wicket. Someone made a hundred on the same pitch. I think it is all about application."

"If you are playing top class cricket, you should be able to handle such surfaces," he added.

The Cape Town pitch was rated "unsatisfactory" by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the India-South Africa test match ended in just 107 overs.

Mentioning that T20 cricket is an exhibition and Test cricket is an examination, Lloyd said, "Youngsters nowadays seem to be getting into the habit of trying to hit the ball out of the ground so he can get a contract somewhere. I don't like it."

He emphasized on playing more cricket to get the players climatized with different conditions in different countries.

Talking about the West Indies team's failure to qualify in Cricket World Cup 2023, Clive Lloyd said, "That is disappointing. They now realize how important One Day cricket is. I think they have to put more effort in the game to make a comeback."

Lloyd said that the Indian cricket team seems to have a much balanced side now.

"Their bowling department is very good and they now have wonderful batsmen. I think India has a real top team now," he said.

Talking about Virat Kohli, the former West Indies middle-order batsman said, "Kohli is young enough and the way he is playing, I am sure that he can achieve Sachin Tendulkar's record — the century of centuries."

The cricket legend said that he would like to see more Test cricket.