FORMER Berbice, Guyana and West Indies middle-order batsman and Wisden’s 1970 Cricketer-of-the-Year, Basil Butcher, told a gathering at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) pavilion, when the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) held its Youth Awards ceremony last Friday night that he would do anything for West Indies cricket. “I will do anything for West Indies cricket as long as I am alive and well and even postpone anything to do it too.”
The 76-year-old Butcher, who is the father of the present president of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Keith Foster, made the bold statement, after notifying the audience which included former national middle-order batsman Mark Harper and members of the various Under-15 and U-19 club teams attached to the GCA, that he was asked to deliver the feature address 24 hours earlier.
“We (Rohan Kanhai, Joe Solomon and I), came from a very obscure environment where three out of five babies will die but we survived to be what we turned out to be and with this in mind, I want to ask the parents of our young cricketers to help them, as we cannot tell what is going to happen in the future.”
The man who scored 3 104 runs at an average of 43.11 from 44 Test matches with a highest score of 209 not out, charged the young cricketers, drawn from the member clubs of the GCA, to put in  the hard work in order to get out.
“I must say that the GCA is blessed to be having the services of Roger Harper who went the full distance. He knows what needs to be done to get there and I want to charge you young players to find someone who can help you when you are not producing. If you don’t put in, you would not be able to get out and the more you put in, the more you get out,” said Butcher.
He continued: “I recall a visit to Berbice by Sir Clyde Walcott back in 1953 and we quizzed him a lot with regard to cricket and certainly, he answered each and every one of us accordingly and judging from what he told us I was able to come to town and boast about places I had never seen before.”
Butcher did not hesitate to express his hurt at the performance of the present West Indies team, even chiding them for celebrating their recent 4-1 victory over Zimbabwe.
“It hurts to see what has been happening to our cricket over the past 25 years. I can vividly recall listening to a match over the radio one night, with my wife lying next to me and probably my ranting and raving woke her up and she asked me one simple question.
“What are you wasting time for, to hear the same thing again, after which she chased me out of the bed …? Now I must say that even though such a statement was true as they were snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I was still supporting them all the way, as no matter where I go, I am 100% West Indies through and through,” said Butcher.
“Imagine we are rejoicing and celebrating a 4-1 victory over Zimbabwe, when we had already given them something to shout about, after they defeated us in the one off Twenty20 and the first one-day international.
The thing is while other teams have been doing something to improve their game, we here in the West Indies have done nothing. We are sitting and hoping for the rebirth of a Kanhai, Sobers, Lloyd, Gibbs and even Lara just to name a few, but it is not going to happen. Mr Hope does not play cricket,” Butcher stated.
Even though he has not played much since his retirement, Butcher was quick to point out the unavailability of a development programme both in Guyana and the West Indies and called for a change of the guard.
“We are not doing what we are supposed to or even mandated to do and it is time for a change in the guard. We have to have people on the board such as Harper, who knows what needs to be done and how to get it done effectively, with the interest of cricket at heart.
Before I came off the board of the GCB, a lot of things were discussed with regard to moving cricket both in Guyana and the West Indies forward, but nothing has been done to that effect. We have to have a Cricket Development Programme (CDP), where our young cricketers can benefit.
Such a programme must be beneficial to all cricketers in all six territories that make up the West Indies. There are a number of things that need to be done, but a good CDP will do it. It is time we see the West Indies play as a team, in challenging our opponents more, by giving them a better fight, as they themselves fight for what they believe in,” Butcher stated.
The media also came in for some harsh words from Butcher for being unkind to our players, some of whom learnt to play Test cricket in the middle.
But while stating there are many weaknesses in the Regional team, Butcher tipped his hat to talismanic skipper Christopher Gayle who has been able to stand tall against all the deficiencies he has been facing both on and off the field of play.
In closing, he wished the GCA well in their future endeavours and at the same time he hopes something is done to place cricket back on track as in the days of yore, following which, he received a standing ovation and a rapturous round of applause from his audience.