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The dilemma of West Indies cricket

Dec 28, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
It doesn’t appear to me that the strategists, revisionists, technocrats, directors and even the experts that are daily involved in the direction of West Indies cricket have intelligently considered the rationale in preparing the West Indies team for international tournaments, such as the World Cup.
No other cricketing country can be so naïve to be repetitively susceptible in its pursuit of global acclaim. This is immediately damage control to contemplate the least.
I am referring here to the conspicuous, diluted and unacceptable approach by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to once again find itself clandestinely harbouring uncertainty and even ignominy at international contest. How can the WICB appropriately prepare for next year’s 50-over World Cup tournament by scheduling its 20/20 format which inherently will preclude the world event?
In fact it was the reverse, when the West Indies hosted the 20/20 World Cup earlier this year when the regional 50 overs tournament was the precursor. The result then was the disappointing if not unexpected first round exit of the West Indies team. There will not be any other serious preparation of the West Indies team other than the regulatory camp and therefore I am convinced that this is not a professional approach that will yield world rated results, except for some individuals who are sublimely talented.
Indeed I am aware of the WICB’s international commitments and interest, that are both financially and strategically beneficial to the organisation, as well as I am known to the fact that next year’s Regional 20/20 champion has to be identified early for their participation in the highly lucrative and eagerly anticipated 20/20 Champion’s League to be staged in India next year, hence the urgency.
But which one of these events will provide a lasting and proud legacy for us as a West Indian, as our own Clive Hubert Lloyd twice showed us on the global stage?
The WICB must put into perspective its priorities, as the organisation has been caught up into commercialism, radicalism and even un-patriotism as in the case of the trio of Chris Gayle, Dwanye Bravo and Kieron Pollard whose individualism can have devastating effect on the image of the WICB, while the players’ genuine commitment to West Indies cricket will undeniably be questioned, though their stance has been condoned by some directors of the WICB for obvious reasons, since the practice of partisan integration seemingly still exist.
The world indeed has become an economic free zone and the freedom of expression, as well as the maximizing of one’s earnings has no barrier, especially within the Caribbean; facts of which are now inevitably crippling and slowly diminishing the resolute identity of the WICB as an institution, since the players are guided legally, including by the West Indies Players Association and there is very little trust between the two parties.
This phenomenon of influential independence and commercial rights of the players will not cease, but instead the competition will become even greater in a rapidly changing environment, that the WICB must acknowledge and have appropriate solutions for.
If not the WICB, like our once symbolic cricketing monument, that has now fallen prey to the demand for the expansive Guyana National Stadium thus culminating the slow and emotionally painful death of the historical Bourda paradise, where the halls of nostalgia, triumphalism and patriotic chemistry once reigned supreme.
Elroy Stephney

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