HEAD Coach Ottis Gibson is blaming the senior batsmen of the West Indies team for their failure to perform. Yet he, along with Chris Gayle, Richie Richardson and others predicted great results in this current World Cup tournament. Similar and equally grandiose statements were made in 2007, during the last Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. To blame them, however,  is a ‘copout’ because two of those players, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, have been routinely  treated unfairly.

Sarwan was not even offered a retainer contact – the excuse was fitness – yet Sulieman Benn  was, and he is hardly a model of fitness, not to mention his ill-disciplined behaviour.

Chanderpaul, the  most consistent batsman on the team, was inexplicably  dropped for the two previous games  when match practice was essential,  and included yesterday (Thursday). Gibson refused to address this issue at a press conference.

To jerk these two fine ambassadors of West Indies cricket around, as has been done frequently -Sarwan was earlier  assured of the captaincy only to have this decision reversed – and then to expect to have them perform at their best  in a crisis, is quite absurd.

As it is, and contrary to Gibson’s assertions, both were the best players in the crucial game. Please note that Gayle’s failures, especially in critical games including the one against India on Thursday, have been poor, yet he is always assured of prima donna treatment, by the Board.

The same harsh treatment has  been meted out to Dinesh Ramdin and Narsingh Deonarine as they also were not offered retainer contracts and were also dropped from the team. And this was without any clearly stated  reason.

Incidentally, would  Ramdin not have been a logical choice to replace Carlton Baugh when the latter was injured?

Devon Thomas, as wicket-keeper, was  not an adequate choice yet, like Sammy, he was thrust into a position for which he was entirely unsuited.

Davendra Bishoo was added belatedly to the team when he should have been an automatic choice as a right-arm leg spinner, instead of choosing two left arm spinners offering little variety.

Gibson and the Board need to stop looking for scapegoats and instead look for answers within, instead of unfairly  apportioning blame elsewhere.

Using the same yardstick to measure everyone would be the first step in this direction as is choosing the best players to the team. Unfortunately,  a stubborn WICB is unlikely to change its course.