“Embarrassed, clueless, confused and annihilated – West Indies cricket is at its lowest ebb ever!”

Mar 27, 2011 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
“Whuh de hell wrang wid dem fellows in de West Indies team?  Dah is de best dem can do?”  Last week was a very poisonous week for West Indies cricket supporters everywhere, so I do not know if, as a child, as a parent, or even if you do not have children, you will have experienced anything like the following:
Your parents, or you, as a parent, were so blue; angry; with similar crescendos of voice, that you forgot the children’s names – “Hey, Sonny, Robin, Michael – Ah, who de hell is yuh again?  Whuh is yuh damn name, boy?  Look!  I so damn vex!  Look!  Boy, whuh is yuh blasted name?  Look!  I culd kill yuh!  Look!”
That anger surfaced universally last Wednesday, when West Indies was annihilated by a wonderfully fluid Pakistan.  To suggest that the game was a no-contest would be to acknowledge that it was ever a contest in the first place.  It was not.  Pakistan, for want of a better expression, played against itself!
“Hey Kraff, tell dem effing West Indies fellas dat dem really suck!”  Similar utterances have greeted me for the last several days as it has never been previously, even when we had been bowled out, often, for bingo scores in the past.  The expectations and hopes for this World Cup were, unfortunately, unreal!
Many have cursed me daily, wherever they see me, as to why our international team is so poor; pilloried with extreme abuse.  It is also difficult to try to even convince and explain that I have no real input whatsoever, except to show the same displeasure that they have, but could also publish it too!
It was as if either I was still playing or, worse, they think I am the lone selector, that recurring thought, suggested ages ago.  I still think that West Indies needs an honest, competent, selection supremo!
If you saw Denzil Washington, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett and Delroy Lindo in the classic, biopic ‘Malcolm X’, you would recall Denzil, as Malcolm, saying:  “We (meaning Negroes) have been hoodwinked!”  Similarly, we, as West Indians and West Indies supporters, have, again, been very seriously duped!
We have been conned by the spurious rhetoric of myopic head coach, Ottis Gibson, who, obviously, has only qualifications, but is infinitely unqualified to coach and manage a proper West Indies cricket team.
We have also been fully fooled by a captain, Daren Sammy, who through no fault of his, is out of place!  We have been masterfully misled, even again, by West Indies Cricket Board, who promised much better!
Yes, this last week, the abuse has been especially viral.  Yet, I do not blame the natives too much.  That so many; millions even; stayed up, or got up, just to listen, or see, the crap that has become West Indies international cricket, at ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, was astonishing.  No-one can convince me that support, and real hope, is no more.  Our cricket, regional and international, is clueless and rudderless!
If you doubt me about our cricket, here are just a few questions to ponder.  How many 4-day games in our regional 2011 competition have been completed in less than 3 days?  Many!
How come England Lions, into the final round of regional cricket 2011, are points ahead of the rest of the Caribbean’s teams?  This is only England’s “A” team!  Our cricket is at its lowest ebb ever!
As if that was not enough, we now have Gibson suggesting that senior players did not pull their weight.   Do you remember that old proverb that ‘a bad workman always quarrels with his tools’?
Remember that I said, earliery, that Gibson and Sammy were useless and not remotely suitable?  I was wrong.  Neither should have been considered at all.  However, just expect that both will be retained!
This scenario reminds me of the head coaching tenures of West Indian Roger Harper and Australian Bennett King.  I still think that they were, like so many people involved in West Indies cricket, way too scared to lose their job, to actually do it properly.  I also continue to say that somehow, we in the Caribbean think that having certificates makes one qualified.  Just do the job; devil take the hindmost!
I remember asking Harper, in Sri Lanka, 2001, for BBC World Service, when we were badly beaten; 3-0 in 3 Tests, despite Brian Lara’s brilliance; when he complained, ala Gibson, that ‘the players were not listening to me’, as to if he would quit, or why should he not be fired?  I still have the tapes for that too!
I believed then, now, and always, that if a Coach, in any sport, complains that players were not adhering to his/her directives or wishes, then that Coach is ineffective.  It is the Coach’s job to make players into what he/she wants them to be.  American sports, and even soccer, club or country, easily confirm that!
Harper did not concur nor did he quit.  Soon, he was fired; replaced, in time, by Bennett King, another square peg in a round hole!  Gibson should also be fired.  He is unable to fill that massive gaping crater!  Appoint (Sir) Vivian Richards now, give him full freedom, and let us get on with rebuilding!
Honestly, present West Indies cricket is probably just a shade above being an outright Associate.  Canada, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are just about our level now.  Please do not insult Ireland, or even Holland, even though West Indies beat them.  Ireland is so well tuned for the future, while West Indies cricket continues to suffer from complete, systemic failure; insularity and stupidity at its apex!
There have been calls for Sammy, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul, for starters, to be put out of their sufferings; dropped!  For the latter three, permanent removal should be effected immediately.  None of these three can bring anything more, or new, to the table!
Officially, there are 21 species of albatrosses world-wide.  19 species are almost extinct.  Actually, I think there are 22 such species, including West Indies captain Sammy.  The 22nd should become extinct now!
Unfortunately, Sammy has been, foolishly, appointed West Indies captain to the end of India’s tour in July.  We are stuck with this stone, this albatross, around our necks, going further down, gasping for air!  Help!
Not many enhanced their reputations in Asia.  Devon Smith, surprisingly, and Kemar Roach, expectedly, did.  Daren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Andre Russell are only just credible.  They are still relatively young.  The re-inclusion of Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin and Marlon Samuels will, at least, help!
It is certainly time for renewal, especially with the next ICC World Cup not until 2015, in Australia and New Zealand.  West Indies cricket has four years, minimum, to reflect and review, then recharge.  In reality, much more, as will be addressed in subsequent articles will also have to evolve.
Meanwhile, West Indies Cricket Board has its meeting this weekend in Antigua & Barbuda.  Maybe they should all resign.  Most of us cannot believe that this bunch, and its selectors, can continue this way.  Unfortunately, nothing will change there.  We will simply continue on, with this unending drivel!  Enjoy!

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