When West Indians reminisce on the glories of the Caribbean’s major unifying force-cricket, it is so painful and sad for them to see its current state. In fact, no one would have dreamt that it would have deteriorated to such a pitiful level which makes one begin to think or wonder whether the end of West Indies cricket is near. However, we should all remain optimistic even though recent happenings do not offer much hope.

The West Indies have produced many of finest cricketers and teams to have graced the game who have brought immense and irreplaceable joy to the Caribbean and the cricketing public worldwide. The stylishness, aggressiveness, innovativeness and athleticism of our cricketers are unique and inimitable and have lighted up cricket fields for decades wherever they have played.

It was our own Joe Solomon who created history by creating the first tied test match in the1960-61 series against Australia in the most brilliant run out. He was just one among an illustrious list including, Sir George Headley, Sir Learie Constantine, Sony Ramadin, Alfred Valentine, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Wes Hall, Andy Roberts, Malcom Marshall, Lance Gibbs, Sir Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kalicharran, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Sir Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul etc.

When an eminent jurist, academic and Caribbean patriot such as Sir Shridath Ramphal cannot resolve an impasse between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) then the situation is definitely not a healthy one.

Sir Shridath himself has warned that West Indies cricket “without fundamental changes, is now likely to deteriorate further”.

He explained that 24 hours before the breakdown, he believed that “Agreement between the WICB and WIPA was at hand; and that he had actually invoked assistance of various kinds to make implementation of the Agreement feasible”.

“However, all that changed dramatically when one Party introduced an entirely new document and refused to negotiate on any other.”

It is difficult to blame any party for the current impasse because information has been very limited as to the fundamentals of the problem except that the players who have withdrawn their service have not been given a contract by WICB. The absence of information is not surprising because the WICB over the years has not been operating in a transparent and open manner showing contempt for the Caribbean public who simply love cricket and would go to extremes to turn up at cricket matches to support the West Indies, despite the long “drought” which the team has been experiencing. Players are dropped for inexplicable reasons without any explanations from the board but months or years after the Caribbean cricket loving public would hear through the grape vine that it was for disciplinary or some other reason. Many years ago one of our greatest, Rohan Kanhai, only became aware that he was not captain anymore when Clive Lloyd was announced as the new captain.

Information on crucial issues to the cricketing public has always been a difficult proposition because of the reluctance or the disregard for the people of the Caribbean people by the officials of the WICB. And perhaps herein lies one of the main reasons which is responsible for the current state of our cricket and the impasse between the WICB and WIPA.

However, a burning question arises out of the impasses and that is whether West Indian players of the current era are the in the game primarily for money or apart from providing a livelihood they are there because of the pride, dignity and joy it brings to the people of this region. Unfortunately, many people, because of the attitude displayed by several players, are of the view that that they are there primarily for the money.

Whether the above is true or not the fact is that West Indies cricket is in a crisis and is at perhaps its lowest ebb since we entered the test arena in the late 1920s, but more importantly expeditious and decisive action is needed to salvage the sinking ship and avoid perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of the Caribbean.

Cricket to the Caribbean people is like what football is to the Brazilians. In the words of Sir Shridath: “cricket is in our regional genes; it cannot be lost.”

So a concerted effort by our political leaders and the people of the Caribbean is urgently needed to prevent a tragic blow to our history, dignity and pride.