Windies deserved Champions Trophy wildcard – Lloyd

FORMER West Indies captain Clive Lloyd would love to have seen the regional team be the beneficiaries of a wildcard entry for the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.
The West Indies, champions of the tournament in 2004, missed out on making the cut for the current edition after falling outside of the world’s top eight-ranked teams by the September 30, 2015 deadline.
The team’s failure to do so marked the first time since the tournament’s inception year in 1998 that the maroon caps will not be part of the event.
Questions have since been raised in several quarters regarding the West Indies’ absence, with several arguing that the regional team will be hugely missed.
Among the suggestions proposed for the future is the implementation of a wildcard rule, which, similar to the sport of tennis, would allow organisers leeway in terms of the teams invited to the tournament.
“It could have been an ideal situation. If you have won the competition, you should be automatically chosen,” Lloyd told Ahmedabad Mirror.
“Yes, the wildcard rule would be great. This is because people like the brand of cricket the West Indies play. They won the T20 competition only last year,” he added.
The West Indies are currently 9th in the One Day International rankings and also face the prospect of missing out on automatic qualification for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.