PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC

West Indies hard hitting batsman Ricardo Powell is calling on the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies cricketers to forge a closer relationship, for the good of the game in the Caribbean.

Powell said West Indian players needed to realise that playing cricket was their livelihood and needed to being viewed as going to the office for a day's work. He, however, said that this could only happen if both parties had a common understanding.

"Professionalism is the key to being successful and our cricketers must move in a professional way. They have to think of it as going to the office and if this is done, then the cricket becomes their full time employment," said Powell, who played two Tests and 109 One-Day Internationals for the West Indies.