Dear Editor,
IN the Caribbean today, we have a failing regional Test cricket team. Some fans would like to blame the cricketers, who recently bowled Sri Lanka out in both innings for a total of 406 runs in a Test match, but still could not win.

Yes, I would give them 25% of the blame for failure to apply themselves and surpass what we all saw as a meagre total. However, I would lay 75% of the blame at the feet of the administrators of West Indies Cricket.

In every aspect of life and living, we need to first lay a solid foundation. Where is our foundation? The facts speak for themselves: the West Indies Cricket Board recently selected and played a left-arm seamer who could bowl only one fast spell in a Test match.

We had an opening batsman who has never scored a First Class hundred.
Finally, although our team performed poorly in the recent series in Sri Lanka, the regional selectors were forced to select the same squad for the December, 2015 tour of Australia.

Yet, among the 25-man party, which includes 10 officials, they have not named a batting coach or a bowling coach.

It is a crying shame that, with our Test team struggling as it has been, we do not, in 2015, have a ‘B’ team from which we could select new players. During the New Zealand tour of the West Indies in 2014, the West Indies Cricket Board chose to have them oppose a Jamaica Select XI twice.

In 2015, they had England opposing a St Kitts Invitational XI twice. No ‘B’ team or President’s XI matches were played against those teams, and the ‘B’ team did not function in 2015.

We have not been producing a Test batsman of class because, as Sir Garfield Sobers rightly said, “The Twenty/20 format has taken a heavy toll on our cricket.” The art of playing every ball on its merit, remaining at the crease and scoring hundreds has been lost. The fact that we have been losing so terribly, with our matches ending in four days or less, should come as no surprise.

Two decades ago, teams coming to the Caribbean knew that the pitches in Barbados and Jamaica were lively; Trinidad had a spinner’s wicket after the first day, and Bourda in Guyana was a batsman’s paradise. Today, all of the pitches in the Region are spinner-friendly. Has this benefited the West Indies? Definitely not! Three of our best Test spinners have recently been called for throwing. On the other hand, because of these lifeless pitches, we have not been producing fast bowlers and batsmen who can play on lively pitches. The few fast bowlers who do come through are not given extended spells to help them to develop and improve their skills and stamina. Fast bowlers need an eight- or 10-over opening burst, not a mere four-over spell.

In its haste to produce quickly drying facilities for the 2007 World Cup tournament, the Region used sand as the absorbent on the grounds, and failed to cover the sand with several layers of clay. It appears that sand was also used on several of the other grounds that were rehabilitated at that time. The problem with this operation is that sand grows, moves and flies; it quickly gets onto pitches. If the pitch is not properly swept before it is flooded or watered for preparation, the sand gets ingrained into the pitch. With a sandy outfield and no sweeping of the pitch in preparation, even a pitch built of clay will become slower, spinner-friendly, and lifeless for fast bowlers. It is my belief that this is a major problem in the entire Region.

About two years ago, the West Indies Cricket Board had promised to do something about these lifeless pitches. They have apparently done nothing. One wonders what they have done recently to improve our on-field performance; to develop players capable of entering and remaining in our Test team for any extended period; or generally to improve our sport.

A former President of the West Indies Cricket Board recently asked: “When did Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board start getting paid, and by whose authority?” Are we to assume that no one any longer works pro-bono on the Board? I recall that during the mid-1970s, when Stephen Camacho was appointed Secretary of the West Indies Cricket Board, he was supplied only with an office assistant; yet he did an excellent job. None of our players was left stranded, awaiting a visa to enter another country. We now have an inflated bureaucracy, and very little gets done.

In Guyana today, we have an illegal Guyana Cricket Board, fully funded and recognised by the West Indies Cricket Board, with a Secretary who is a Director of the West Indies Cricket Board and also a leading member of the Cricket Franchise. With US$45,000 being supplied monthly by the West Indies Cricket Board, one wonders which entity handles this money, and whether or not there is a conflict of interest involved.

Remember that the Guyana Cricket Board has injuncted the previous governing administration of Guyana, the Attorney General, the Minister of Sport, and the Cricket Ombudsman — case dismissed. They have also injuncted an opposing faction of the Demerara Cricket Board, comprising the former Assistant Treasurer, who had acid thrown in his face in 2010; and this faction has injuncted them, resulting in the entire Demerara Cricket Board being injuncted. In addition, two Berbice clubs with ties to the Guyana Cricket Board have jointly injuncted the executive members of the Berbice Cricket Board. International Cricket in Guyana is being administered by the Cricket Franchise, persons from the injuncted Demerara Cricket Board, and the Essequibo Cricket Board — which is the only Board not injuncted and can legally operate.

The problem of a quorum at meetings and their legality is a whole proverbial ‘can of worms,’ ignored by the administration and the West Indies Cricket Board. The Guyana Cricket Board has discontinued the three-day First Division competition since 2010. This competition was started since the turn of the 20th century with the Parker Cup in Demerara and the Davson Cup in Berbice. This misguided administration recently announced that the annual Inter-County Four-Day tournament, first played in 1954 among teams representing Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice and replaced by practice matches in 2015, will be discontinued. In fact, the Inter-County tournament was not played in 2015.

They have now killed the two major vehicles that would allow our cricketers to move into First Class cricket. All of this at a time when the standard of West Indies cricket is at its lowest ebb and the dire need for cricket development and exposure of our players at these levels is so evident.

A house built without a solid foundation will sway with the wind, and crack and crumble to the ground in a heap of dust and debris at the least upheaval. Our cricketers deserve much better. Where is the investment and the foundation that have allowed 49 Guyanese to come through the ranks and attain Test cricketer status?

During a fact-finding visit to Guyana by the President and Vice-President of the West Indies Cricket Board a few months ago, the President, who cannot be relied on to keep his word, chose the Guyana Cricket Board Secretary — the centre of the controversy — to chair the proceedings. When the President was asked a question by a member of the audience, his response was: “We are not here for that.”
This same President sat in Dubai and refused to speak to our cricketers, resulting in a walk-out from the tour of India in 2014 and a demand for US$ 52 million in compensation, which the West Indies cannot afford to pay to India. After three separate investigations — the last two commissioned by the Board with no corrective action having been taken on the first two investigations — this third investigation was followed by a loud call for restructuring of the Board. The President initially refused to meet with CARICOM leaders. However, a meeting has now been fixed for December 4 in Grenada. It seems that his ineptitude and disrespect for our cricketers and political leaders have no boundaries.

It is apparent that the goal of most of these administrators is to remain in office for an eternity and harvest the fat of the earth. In the case of Guyana, it appears that their position must be held by all means necessary. For these administrators, restructuring will be a personal disaster. It seems that the West Indies Cricket Board will not accept the restructuring, unless they are confronted with no alternative. No, I do not appreciate a political intervention in our sport, but the sport is bigger than us all, and it must be preserved and allowed to grow at all cost. I say: “It is not enough to do nothing. It is time enough to do something.”

Yours faithfully,
Mortimer George
Former Secretary
Berbice Cricket Board