THE West Indies(WI) cricket team was once gain humiliated, this time at the hands of India who crushed them by an innings in both Test matches, inflicting more hurt to the pride of West Indian fans who are longing to see their team rise to the top of the cricketing world again.If there is one thing that unites the Caribbean people it is cricket; and when the WI team performs terribly their pride is severely dented. And so our people continue to live in anxiety and hope after more than a decade of despair as a result of the extremely poor performance of the WI , particularly and importantly in Test cricket. Anyone who is knowledgeable about cricket and truly understands the nature and history of the game, will know that Test cricket is the real Test of the skill, grit and determination of cricket teams. Therefore, if a team does not do well at the Test level, it will never be considered among the best, despite how well it may perform in other forms of the game. This is precisely the problem with the WI as it has been doing well in the shorter formats and in fact it is the current holder of the ICC World T20 trophy.
Looking at some of the WI players in Test matches, one gets the impression that there is no pride in representing the Caribbean people. They do not seem to care how the Caribbean people are hurt by their miserable performances and appear to be just going through a routine as if they do not have a passion for the game.
Passion, pride and a responsibility to the Caribbean people characterised all the great WI teams of the past. When they took to the field, they realised and took pride in the fact that they were not playing for themselves but rather for the Caribbean people.
So what is the problem with WI cricket resulting in miserable performances? The problem is so huge that it may be difficult to decide where to begin. But to begin with, there is a serious problem with the administration of the game whereby increasingly many people who have little or no knowledge of the game, but are more concerned about business interests increasingly are holding the reins of power. It is bewildering that none among our long list of great international cricketers including Sir Garfield Sobers,Rohan Kanhai Lance Gibbs, Sir Vivian Richards,Alvin Kalicharran, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh etc. is involved at any level of the game-be it administration, coaching or otherwise. It is a shameful and disgraceful state of affairs.
The other issue is that both our regional youth and senior tournaments have plummeted to a mediocre standard and if radical measures are not taken to drastically reverse this trend, we will continue to remain in the doldrums of cricket.
In this regard, the way to start lifting the regional standard of cricket is that standards in each territory have to be significantly raised and to do this cricket at the school level will have to be much better organised, as well more attention to it is needed.
Team selection is another sore point, because merit does not seem to be a major factor anymore, as it is bewildering on what basis some of the players are selected. A typical example is our current captain, Darren Sammy, who clearly does not have Test cricket temperament and therefore should not be in the Test team, much less being the captain. So in effect, we are playing with 10 men as Sammy is not contributing with the bat nor the ball. He is playing as a specialist captain!
Chris Gayle has publicly stated that he does not have the appetite for Test Cricket anymore and prefers the shorter versions of the game, and this is reflected in his more recent performances in Test cricket, yet we keep persisting with him.
We have a coach who is most uninspiring and to date his only achievement has been frequent involvement in controversies with some of the players. Putting it bluntly, the current coach needs coaching himself.
Also, we cannot be oblivious to the growth of T20 cricket and the money it carries; and therefore the attraction and the lure it carries. But cricketers from other countries are involved in T20 cricket but they have good Test teams. India, the current mecca of T20 cricket is a good example. But there again is where good administration of the game comes in. Most other countries have specialist T20 players and teams, whereas we have virtually the same team playing in all formats. This is nonsensical and we are paying the price for it.
Undoubtedly, we have raw talent in abundance. However, the task is to transform that talent into greatness and to do that cricket has to come first and all other associated considerations have to come second.