‘Big Bird’ caught in a tangled web

Oct 09, 2016 Sports

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By Sean Devers

West Indies Manager 63-year-old Joel ‘Big Bird’ Garner refuted West Indies player Dwayne Bravo’s account of what transpired during the two-match t20 series in which Pakistan made a clean sweep against the defending t20 Champions.
Garner described the Trinidadian’s comment as ‘misleading information’.
The 6 feet 8 inch former West Indies pacer said the management is disappointed but not surprised at what Bravo said.
Bravo pointed out that the players were lost and the management team was lost. “We were looking like school kids again,” Bravo said.
According to the dynamic all-rounder, “The team meetings had no positive input or anything like that. It was just there.”
Garner, the President of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) informed that the team was ‘well prepared’ by the ‘experienced’ Coaching staff with input from the t20 and ODI Captains.
What does Garner, who ran against WICB President Dave Cameron during 2015 WICB elections in Jamaica, mean by experienced Coaches?
The present Coaches have little or no experience with International teams, while the same can be said of the Bajan pair of Captains Jason Holder (ODI) and Carlos Braithwaite (t20).
Many who watched the CPL felt that Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, who led the Barbados Tridents, was the best T20 Captain and once he was in the team should have been the Skipper.
Former England International and ECB level 3 Coach Monty Lynch feels that it was unfair to Braithwaite to appoint him Captain because he hit four consecutive sixes in the t20 final and thinks Darren Sammy, who took the West Indies to two t20 Titles, is a good Leader and excellent motivator.
It is felt that Sammy who had a good CPL for the St Lucia Zouks, was not sacked as West Indies Captain because of performance on the field but because he dared the speak the truth and further expose the indiscretions of WICB.
Once the Courtney Browne led Selection panel felt that Denesh Ramdin was good enough to keep his place in the team he should have been the Captain instead of Holder, who if he was not Skipper, would struggle to make every West Indies team for every match in every condition.
Garner claims that the team was well prepared in all aspects to face Pakistan, a team ranked below the struggling West Indies. This information cast a serious indictment on the standard and competence of the Coaches, judging from the appalling results.
Or was it a lack of commitment by the players who, maybe played to lose as a protest against the dictatorial attitude of the WICB? The team suffered a clean sweep in both the t20 and ODI Series and now has to qualify for the next World Cup with the associate teams.
This is a ‘negative’ for Garner’s inability to inspire his team to ‘gel’ as a unit after they lost respected and experience Head Coach Phil Simmons after he was sacked the day the team left for the UEA due to his ‘cultural difference’ with the WICB.
Barbadian Garner who represented West Indies from 1977-1987 during the glory days has now agreed to support the policy of a Board which is hurting West Indies Cricket.
Garner who has 259 wickets at an average of 20.97 from 58 Tests and 146 ODI wickets from 98 matches, was West Indies Interim Manager in 2009-2010 and one wonders what will transpire when the Test series starts on October 13.
Where will Leon Johnson be asked to bat by this ‘experienced’ Coaching staff after scoring the most runs (807) in this season’s WICB’s First-Class season for Guyana; batting in the middle-order.
Garner, a part of the much feared pace-quartet of the 1980s, alongside Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Colin Croft, has changed his position regarding Cameron.
But then again politics makes strange bed fellows and Garner, not surprisingly, avoids addressing the real issues affecting the Bajan dominated ‘disorganized’ West Indies team in the UAE, but is mounting a weak defence for the lack of motivational prowess of his management team.
Although Bravo said it and Holder allured to it, Garner who played 214 First-Class matches for Barbados, Somerset, South Australia, did not comment on claims that the WICB’s decision to sack Simmons on the day of the team’s departure, demoralized the players.
When Clive Lloyd was appointed head of the Guyana Government’s IMC and advisor to Guyana’s then President Donald Ramotar to take control of the GCB, he was offered the post of Chairman of the WICB selectors.
Lloyd had announced that he was running against Cameron but no one can hold the position of WICB President and that of Head of Selectors or Team Manager. Sounds familiar?
The ‘Big Bird’ who still holds the record for the best figures (5-38 vs England in 1979) in a World Cup Final has been caught in a tangled web in much the same way that Lloyd was outfoxed by the board.

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