“Questions, Planning, Alternates, Stalling - Has West Indies cricket reached its Point of No Return?”

“Questions, Planning, Alternates, Stalling – Has West Indies cricket reached its Point of No Return?”

Feb 19, 2012 Sports

Colin E. H. Croft

“There are more questions than answers; Pictures in my mind that will not show! There are more questions than answers; The more I find out, the less I know; Yeah, the more I find out, the less I know!”
American; he was born in Texas; Johnny Nash’s anthem of life is apt here. It pertains to the home of his adopted genre of music; reggae. With so many recent developments in Caribbean’s cricket, questions reverberate. Perhaps Johnny can see clearly now! Not us; not yet anyway!
Is West Indies cricket stalled? Do WICB and its acolyte countries, like all cross-country and international pilots do, have a plan? If so, like most pilots’ plans, is WICB’s plan feasible?
Is West Indies cricket so cracked, so disenchanted, so disenchanting even, that it is now at that place; ‘point of no return’; where, in aviation, a decision must be made, relative to conditions and availabilities, to continue in a planned direction, to a planned destination, or to turn back to point of origin?
Will West Indies cricket, in present state and existence, continue? Can it? Will the respective countries play as a continuous unit, or would they, as has been intimated so many times, ‘go solo?’
Like all commercial airline pilots world-wide, I too have had so many aviation terms, functional flying dialogue, drummed into me ad nauseam. I even dreamt them! The purpose is never to forget! Unfortunately for our cricket, past West Indies glories have become faded, very distant memories!
After theory of flight, and ground-school, comes ‘practicals’. First solo, that first flight without an accompanying instructor, is always a red-letter event, like playing a first Test match, only much more dangerous. Screw up your first solo flight, and it is possible that you will never play anything again!
Planning, stalling, alternates, and point of no return, are some of major terms that aviators must learn, appreciate, know and understand; anytime, anywhere. As training progresses to take-offs, landings, cross-country flights and instrument work, those words take on gospel proportions!
My 1998 Nissan Maxima Cifero’s engine had been so well made and tuned that it has never stalled. If it had, I probably would have had previous warnings, and could have pulled over to the curb to check causes. There are no such come-backs if there is no immediate recovery from an airplane’s stall!
Every airplane has varying stall speeds, depending on configurations; angles of attack, and amount of lift being generated at any specific time. Fortunately for many, and me, I have never stalled an airplane, except as induced in training. Knowing recovery processes is important to continued health!
All airplanes can stall, but there is no pulling over to the curb after such a stall. If you do not know how to recover, immediately, from that stall, you can be croaked, be it Cessna 172, ATR-72 or Boeing 777!
So, if West Indies cricket is indeed stalled, will it pull it out, make the correct immediate adjustments, know which configuration changes to make, to get it, firstly, back flying, then heading in the right direction? It is never just enough to recover from a stall. There must also be some procedural plan!
A good Trinidad & Tobago female friend contacted me last week to inform thus: “Clive Lloyd is disappointing me much with his situation in your home country. He is allowing himself to stoop to the mess that is our cricket. He must be smarter than that! What is his angle?”
I know not, but I know I will be proved correct, again, in my prognostications. I had alluded that this IMC was part of a grander course and plan, not only to remove present GCB President, but eventually, to climb to the heights of WICB Presidency. Your choice if that is good or bad, but that is the plan!
The next move, now that CHL has demitted WICB Directorship’s office, and will be replaced too on ICC’s Cricket Committee, would be to do either of two things, just one, or even both! In aviation, alternate, emergency landing situations must be planned whenever undertaking any flights whatsoever!
He could either run for Presidency of Guyana’s Cricket Board when the time comes, or, more probably, do what international pilots do daily, travel that straightest, most direct course, that great curved circle; objective WICB Presidency; which was likely the main destination anyway! Keeping ahead of the craft!!
CHL has probably only just found out, even after being a WICB Director, that there are many more questions than ready answers in our cricket. I doubt that he was prepared for what he met in Guyana! In most cases in WI cricket, the more that is found out, the less is actually known!
CHL could, probably should, have checked with vice-captain, Deryck Murray, in T&T. Some say that DLM also had plans of landing WICB Presidency. At least, like good pilots, DLM had an alternate, professional opportunities, ex cricket, just in case. Nowadays, I am not even sure that he is still flying in WI cricket!
So, if Lloyd is Special Sports Advisor to Guyana’s President, is he also Chairman of Interim Management Committee? Both? Are those not also a conflict of interest? Or has IMC now served its purpose and has been, stealth-like, landed effectively?
Supposing all is flying, will there even be a West Indies cricket team, and West Indies Cricket Board, in the next five or ten years? I seriously doubt that very much. There have been too much continued dogma and suggestions that regional teams will eventually learn, and want to, fly solo!
In ages past, 1960’s to 1970’s, Barbados went it alone, when they had the might of West Indies in its team – Gary Sobers, Conrad Hunte, Seymour Nurse, Robin Bynoe, Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, David Holford, Peter Lashley and Vanburn Holder. That engine malfunctioned; the craft crashed and burned!
In the 1970’s both Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago probably thought, without action, of same. Then, Guyana had Clive Lloyd, Joe Soloman, Roy Fredericks, Stephen Camacho, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai and Lance Gibbs, so the bravado must have come through in thought, if not deed! Smart!
Trinidad & Tobago, with Brian and Charlie Davis, Deryck Murray, Richard De Souza, Joey Carew, Raphick Jumadeen, Bernard Julien, Inshan Ali and Jack Noriega would have, at least, also had the same thoughts!
Now, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago have dominated the last few years of WI cricket; T&T in limited overs, Jamaica looking to win 2012 4-day competition to complete five consecutive championships. It would not take augmentation to aid thoughts of taking off and going it alone. Can they? Will they?
T&T play much better than USA, Canada and Netherlands, so becoming an ICC Associate would be no problem. However, what would then happen to its Test players? Obviously, T&T will not play Tests. Jamaica’s credentials are different, as they play the longer game better, but the result is the same too.
Both will have to earn wings to fly with the majors, taking years, remembering that making decisions at that point of no return is important to continued development and progress. Enjoy!