In a sense, Larry Gomes, the former West Indies Test batsman, is a cricketing pioneer exploring new frontiers few would dare venture into.

With the glorious years now a distant memory, Gomes has taken on the daunting task of developing cricket in the USA.

The legendary Windies? star batsman still actively dabbles in the game himself, and is current coach of the USA?s Under-19 national squad.

The Americans failed to progress beyond the preliminary round of last February?s Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, losing to the likes of the West Indies, South Africa and Australia.

Yet Gomes remains adamant the game can truly thrive in the US, but only through a combined effort on the part of those who govern the sport there.

The USA?s shortcomings of late have all been well-documented, with factions pulling in completely different directions.

?I would like to see once and for all the authorities get their acts together and try and come as one. There are two separate factions pulling and tugging and going in all different directions,? Gomes told in Toronto last week.

?I would love to see everyone come under one umbrella, and hopefully things will fall in place with the ICC (International Cricket Council) and so on.?

In 2005 the US were expelled from the Intercontinental Cup and put on two years probation after bickering between the two national cricket bodies (the United States Cricket Association and Major League Cricket) spiralled out of control, forcing the ICC to intervene and impose tough sanctions.

The US recently competed in the Americas Championships under a new skipper, Steve Massiah, and placed second behind eventual winners Bermuda.

But Gomes feels the US already possess all the main ingredients required to obtain success on the international cricket front.

?Generally speaking they have the natural talent among the immigrants coming from the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India,? he said.

?So the talent is definitely there, but again I think they need a bit more exposure and experience.

?At some point in time I think the authorities are going to have to introduce a semi-professional league because as you know in this part of the world the players have jobs that come first and cricket more or less second.

?So it?s a different ball game over here and to a certain extent it holds the sport back. The players have mortgages to pay and families to support and so on.

?But I think if we can encourage some corporate sponsorship to come onboard to maybe help pay these players or contract them for a year or two it would definitely help.?

A key cog in Clive Lloyd?s star-studded West Indies team of the 1970s and early 80s, Gomes represented a contrasting figure with his cool temperament that lent a perfect balance to the havoc wreaked by the likes of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Lloyd himself.

Gomes migrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago ? where his cricket exploits are no less revered in this present day ? in 1999,

He is also a long-time friend and former team-mate of Bermuda coach Gus Logie, who also carved a niche for himself as a member of one of the most dominant Windies teams ever assembled.

Gomes represented the West Indies in 60 Tests and 83 ODIs after debuting against England at Trent Bridge in 1976 ? a debut overshadowed by a double century (232) by Viv Richards.

The elegant left-handed batsman bowed out of the Test arena in 1987 having scored 3,171 runs at an average of 39.63 and racking up an additional 1,415 runs at an average of 28.87 in ODIs.

Gomes scored nine Test centuries, five of them against Australia while also playing for Middlesex in the English County Championship between 1973 and ?76.

He was also a handy offbreak and medium pace bowler, was named Wisden Cricketer of The Year in 1985 and had a stadium named after him in his native Arima, Trinidad.

And the soft-spoken cricketer has long kept close ties with Canada where he now lives.

?Even when I was playing for the West Indies I used to come up here nearly every summer because I have a brother and two sisters living here,? he said.

?I used to play in the (Canadian) Premier Division in the late 1970s and early 1980s and so I know the conditions and the set up. So in 1999 I decided to migrate here, although I am not actually involved with the cricket here in Canada.

?In Canada everything is more or less voluntarily and I am a professional player-coach. And even if I have to play I have to go across the border to New York (for New York Eagles).?

And it is in the US where Gomes enjoys the challenges that go with coaching at a youth level.

?I am prepared to go wherever I?m needed and more than willing to share my experience and knowledge on the game,? he said.

?I am more than willing to pass on the knowledge I have learned from the game. My whole life has been cricket from a tender age. And even when I was playing at the highest level I was coaching back in Trinidad.

?Playing and coaching kids is a different ball game because when you were playing you thought you knew more or less everything. But when you do the actual coaching courses you soon realise it?s a bit different.?

Gomes applauds the success his compatriot Gus Logie is experiencing coaching Bermuda.

Under Logie?s watch so far, the national team have qualified for next year?s World Cup in the Caribbean, clinched a first Intercontinental Cup Americas regional title and less than a week ago a maiden Americas Championship title in Toronto.

?He (Logie) has done a great job getting Bermuda in the World Cup which is a big achievement,? Gomes said.

?And, like myself, I suppose he is also trying to pass on a lot of knowledge he has learned over the years.?

While much has obviously changed in the sport over the years, Gomes said the basics ?will always be there?.

He is also quick to find time to chat about the good old days when the Windies dominated the world stage.

?You must give Clyde Lloyd a lot of credit for getting the team to gel as a unit. We all knew what we had to do, and we played for the West Indian people who were always in the back of our minds. And we were truly a professional team,? Gomes said.

As for the current crop of West Indian players, Gomes added: ?Looking at the composition of the team ? especially in the bowling department. I think that?s where we are a bit weak at the moment.

?On paper we seem to have the batting potential but for some reason our bowlers are struggling to get the opposition out twice. And if you can?t take 20 wickets in a Test match then you can?t win.

?But hopefully a couple of good bowlers will come around the scene sooner rather than later to make us a force to be reckoned with again.?

Although he would experience many highs, Gomes? career did not go without its share of low points, among them a 43-run loss to India in the 1983 World Cup Final at Lord?s ? the most revered cricket ground and birthplace of the sport.

?It wasn?t a good experience at all losing the final against India having won the first two (finals in 1975 and 1979) and being on the verge of a hat-trick,? Gomes painfully recalled.

?Everybody thought it would be easy pickings for us, and up till today I still can?t believe that we lost that final.

?But we have to give India credit because they also beat us in the preliminary round and proved that their win was not a fluke as such. I think all of the players can?t believe that we lost.

?But it was just one of those things and as you know cricket is a funny game. Any other time we would have walked all over India, but in that particular final it was their day.?