port-of-spain, trinidad, cmc

West Indies batting legend Sir Everton Weekes has described the current state of West Indies cricket as a disaster.

Weekes made the comment at the launch of Andy Ganteaume's book entitled, My Story - The Other Side of the Coin, at the Queen's Park Oval, and he added that too many mistakes have been made in West Indies cricket and this has landed us in the position we are in now.

"We have gone wrong in so many ways," he said. "My own opinion is some of the young players don't seem to read enough, not only about cricket, period."

Sir Everton, like Ganteaume, grew up in humble beginnings, but he went on to represent the West Indies with distinction.

"Andy may be small, but he is a broad man," he said. "It might not have been always noticed by the spectators, but if your beginnings are supposed to be humble and you are not very careful, you can be thrown in the sea and be forgotten. You need a lot of strength, and of course, character."

Ganteaume has the unenviable record of having played one Test innings, scoring a century and not getting another game again.

Some say what worked against him was the fact that he scored too slowly and all is revealed in his 168-page book.

Ganteaume, now 86, and accompanied on the night by his wife Semoy, two of their three daughters and three of their grandchildren, writes of his life in the working world, as cricketer and national footballer and also as a cricket administrator.

He tells the story largely through his reflections on events and people like the late Nyron Asgarali, Sir Frank Worrell, George Headley, and another great friend, Sir Everton Weekes.