“West Indies team is intellectually inferior to their opponents”- Survey

Dec 22, 2008 Sports

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Professor Beckles gives 10 reasons for our cricket decline at GCB awards ceremony

By Sean Devers
University of the West Indies Professor Sir Hilary Beckles delivered an insightful feature address at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) annual awards ceremony at the Umana Yana in Georgetown on Friday night and left the large audience in attendance with plenty of food for though as West Indies cricket continues to struggle at the International level.

The 53-year-old Barbadian History Professor who was last year conferred with the honour of the Knight of St Andrew, (Barbados’ national highest award) eloquently explained that 10 major reasons for the decline of West Indies cricket was advanced after a survey of 200 people from various walks of life was done by 50 of his UWI Cave Hill Campus students in Barbados.

Beckles, who has been recognised for his distinguished service in the field of education, in particular at university level, and his dedication to the furtherance of the arts and sports, in particular cricket, delivered a captivating speech at the annual event which was attended by the entire 2009 Guyana Carib Beer cricket team, former West Indies batsman Basil Butcher and ex-West Indies off-spinner and Coach Roger Harper.

Beckles, who like Parliamentarian and Guyana’s Director of Sports Neil Kumar, endorsed Chetram Singh’s work as GCB President and West Indies Cricket Board executive and informed that as Director on the WICB, said he has learn a ‘great deal about West Indies cricket in the last six months’ from Singh whom he feels is someone who can make positive changes in West Indies cricket.

Beckles, who played competitive cricket as a youth while studying in England and much later in life participated as a successful all-rounder for the UWI at the second division level in Barbados’ domestic cricket, charged the young cricketers present to try and emulate Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s concentration level and his desire for success as a Test batsman.

Beckles disclosed that he arrived in Guyana late on Thursday night and got to the hotel just in time to see on Television Chanderpaul, who was named as Guyana’s Cricketer of the Year at Friday night’s function, make his 20th Test century.

“This was special for me to watch on TV in Guyana as Shiv scored a century since I remember when he lost the West Indies Captaincy he came to me in Barbados and asked my advise on the matter. I asked him what he really wanted and he told me that he wished to be the best cricketer in the world, the best family man and to be happy. Imagine how pleased I was to see that century while I was in Guyana with the knowledge that he is ranked as the World’s best batsman,” Beckles continued.  

The Bajan Academic said urgent measures are needed to revive cricket in the West Indies but said without the problem being identified it would be difficult to fix.

“What are the reasons for the decline of West Indies cricket? I had 50 students go around Barbados…..to the Rum Shops, the Supermarkets, the Churches, the Schools, the Banks…they asked 200 people this question and it is very interesting to hear what their answers were,” the esteemed scholar disclosed.

“We came up with 10 main reasons and I will state them in the order in which most people agreed on one reason, said Beckles who jokingly credited former Guyana and West Indies off-spinner Lance Gibbs for pushing him into the teaching profession.

The Bajan said that while studying in England as a 16-year-old he played cricket competitively. He added that one day Gibbs, the first bowler to capture 300 Test wickets, said he wanted to bowl at him in the nets.

“I was so intimidated and nervous about facing the great Lance Gibbs that I was bowled six times in a row which left me totally devastated as a cricketer. When my father heard about this he told me to concentrate on my studies and forget about becoming a famous cricketer. Up to this day Lance tells people he was the one responsible for me being an educator,” Beckles informed.

Beckles said that most of the people interviewed felt that West Indies cricket was down because of the rise and fall factor. Most people polled said that whatever goes up will come down and were confident that West Indies cricket will rise again.

“That was the number one reason given for the fall of West Indies cricket but I believe you should never loose excellence once you have achieved it. The second most popular reason was the loss of technical skill in the region over the last 15 years,” Beckles, who has written extensively on West Indies cricket and its relation to Caribbean life, informed.

According to Beckles, the third reason given by many was a loss of interest with young people no longer having a passionate interest for the sport due to several other distractions in their life.

The Miss-Management of West Indies cricket by the WICB was the fourth most popular reason advanced, while many felt that the fall of the sport in the region is a direct result of the fall of West Indian masculinity.

“We have evidence to support the fact that the young men in the Caribbean are not maturing as quickly as they used to do. Another reason people feel our cricket is suffering is that we have lost the political purpose for West Indies cricket. Cricket used to be about West Indies pride and many don’t believe that is still the case among the players,” Beckles said.

Since the West Indies played their first Test match in England in 1928, cricket has been the ethos around which West Indian society was build on and cricket played a major role in uniting a Caribbean people from many different Islands and the then British Guiana.

Beckles said the seventh most popular reason was the weakness of our Caribbean movement. It was felt that Caribbean people are not as united as they used to be which is causing insularity more than ever to affect West Indies cricket.

The lack of funding by the regional Boards is another area for concern and it is felt that the game is not as attractive to the younger generation because facilities in the region are not as attractive and developed as they should be.

The ninth reason given is that cricket is now viewed as a business and the young players are playing for the money and not the pride of representing the region since most young people in the Caribbean lack patriotism to their country.

The 10th reason given was that the West Indies team is intellectually inferior to the teams they play against.
“We are the least academically certified of all the major international cricket teams in the world. I once called 10 International players I knew from teams around the world and asked them if they knew what they needed to eat to improve certain physical aspects of their body and if they knew the science of training and diet. The West Indians were the only ones who did not know and we need to implement intense academic training for our young cricketers,” Beckles said.

“We don’t want to change them into academics but give them the life skills and knowledge to mentally improve all aspects of their game,” added Beckles, one of the key persons behind the participation of the University team in the regional competitions.

 A senior GCB official lamented the attire of some members of the Guyana team while a very senior player turned up with designer sunglasses and wore them for the entire duration of the function.

“This new crop of players is all about style without substance and if the young players are not taught to change their attitude when representing their county as cricketers and to pay more attention to the production of runs and wickets instead of how they look, we will continue to struggle on the field against opponents who know the importance of representing their country and the millions of people who support them,” the official opined.               

Beckles said plans are in place to address the problems that plague West Indies cricket and said that some funds have been secured and plans are on stream for the launching of the West Indies Academy and urged the batsmen to learn from Chanderpaul’s total comment and focus to batting.

“Chanderpaul has his academic limitations but he has maybe the most strength of concentration among batsmen in the world and even at this stage of his career has an intense work ethic to get better. Those are things you can’t teach but you can learn from watching someone like Shiv and try to be like him as a batsman,” Beckles noted.

Kumar in his remarks stated that while Guyana had a disappointing year on the field the entire region should be proud of the achievements of Chanderpaul.

With the GCB elections set for January 26, Kumar, a politician in Guyana’s ruling party, endorsed Singh and GCB secretary Bish Panday, who is running for the position of GCB President, by asking the GCB public Relations Officer Terry Holder to ensure that the two remain as executives to assist in the progress of the game in Guyana. Kumar was speaking on behalf of Guyana’s Sports Minister Dr Frank Anthony who was unavoidably absent.

Singh said that while Guyana did not win any ‘Silver Ware’ this year on the field the GCB should be proud of their achievements in hosting several tournaments including the regional one-day and the Sri Lanka Test.

“We must commend the quality of the drainage at the Stadium which resulted in our teams playing cricket even during the rainy period and by early next month we will know if we have been confirmed as a venue for the 20/20 Championships in 2010.

We have used some of the US$200,000 we got when Guyana won the inaugural Stanford 20/20 regional competition in 2006 to start construction on an indoor facility and hostel in Essequibo. Indoor facilities will be built in Berbice and Demerara also,” Singh inform.

Singh, the GCB head since 1992, explained that an administrative problem with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) is delaying the commencement of the indoor facility at the LBI venue on the East Coast of Demerara.

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