Sir Clive Lloyd may well be a cricketing legend in his own right, but he has nothing but respect for the changes being made by Kent at Canterbury.

The West Indian announced the nominees for ICC awards at Canterbury a few weeks ago and Kent Sports News were fortunate enough to get an exclusive chat with the Chairman of the LG ICC awards selection panel.

Having played at Canterbury quite a few times, Lloyd was impressed with the changes that have taken place at the St Lawrence Ground in the past year:

“I must say I like what I’ve seen at Canterbury. Changes have been made for the better and I can understand why they have been made as cricket needs to evolve in order to survive.”

“Canterbury has to be one of the prettiest grounds on the county circuit and I’d like to see it retain its character whilst making sure the facilities are enhanced in such a way that the ordinary fan gets to enjoy the cricket.”

The legendary batsman has fond memories of having played at Canterbury, but admits he got upstaged by a legend of Kent cricket:

“I loved trying to see if I could hit the ball out of the ground, and I managed to do it quite a few times if my memory serves me correctly, but whatever I did, I am told that Frank Woolley always hit it further.”

“I believe I always did well batting at Canterbury and it was a ground I always looked forward to coming to and I am delighted that we have been able to announce the nominees at such a fine place as this.”

With Twenty 20 seen by many to be the future, Lloyd urges caution about cricket turning its back on the more traditional forms of the game:

“I have always said and I always will that we need to ensure first class cricket and Test cricket are the pinnacle of the game and we have to educate youngsters coming into the game that they should be aspiring to be Test cricketers.”

“As the guardians of cricket, it is our responsibility to make sure kids coming into the game want to play for their country in Test matches first and foremost.”

“Twenty 20 has its own place and it is a great way for kids to come out and watch cricket, but we meed to make sure that it should be a stepping stone for the longer form of the game.”

The 67 year old former match referee is renowned for being outspoken on many subjects and when asked about whether he sees England dominating world cricket like his West Indies side of the 80’s and the Australian side of the 90’s, Lloyd didn’t pull his punches:

“England deserve to be the number one side in the world with the brand of cricket they have played in the past few years.”

“Only time will tell as to whether they can go on and dominate like some of the great sides of the past. They have a good blend to their side and that’s why they have so many players being nominated for the ICC awards.”

“It’s quite astonishing as to how quick they have improved and how quick a great side like Australia can fall back, but cricket is cyclical and teams need to be forever improving or they stand still.”

“I believe the infrastructure is in place for England to go on and be a dominant force, but that has to be underpinned by cricketers coming through the county system at places like Kent.”

Lloyd played in 110 Tests for the West Indies hitting over 7,500 runs in the process, but he also featured for Lancashire between 1968 and 1986 and it was in that time the powerful batsman believes he learnt his trade and encourages cricketers to play more cricket away from home:

“It was the making of me playing cricket in other countries. I would implore any aspiring cricketer to go out and learn their game in foreign conditions as you will learn lots about yourself as a cricketer and as a person.”

“In my time, it was par for the course to come to England to play county cricket and I would like to think in years to come some English cricketers would come to the West Indies and play domestic cricket there.”