Rudi V. Webster talks West Indies cricket…Lessons from Worrell and Lloyd

Jun 05, 2014 Sports

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Throughout the IPL competitions West Indies players have done particularly well. This year was no exception –

Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith and Sunil Narine performed brilliantly. I feel that if they had the opportunity to play in the other formats of the game in India they would do equally well. So why are these players who are mediocre at best when they play for West Indies doing so well in India?
Having worked with the Kolkata Knight Riders, the 2012 champions, I would say that the enabling factors are the competence and professionalism of the administrators, the learning environment in which the players operate, and the first class coaching, leadership, and player management skills that they encounter. These factors enhance players’ self-belief and self-confidence, and motivate them to perform as disciplined members of the team. It would be interesting to learn how West Indies players would rate their administrators, coaches, captains and selectors in these areas.
Autocratic attitudes and practices are common in West Indies cricket. But when players are made to believe that they can truly make a difference to the performance of their team, they bring with them a level of motivation and discipline which when correctly directed and focused satisfy a major requirement for success. Discipline then comes from within; it doesn’t have to be imposed. In fact, at the highest levels of sport success revolves more around motivation, self- belief and self-discipline than around talent and potential.
Richard Pybus the new cricket director of West Indies cricket has recently designed and articulated a good strategy and detailed plans for improving West Indies cricket. But execution will be key because strategic plans by themselves can only take the team so far. Plans and goal charts do not accomplish performance. Players do. Players breathe life into the team’s vision and plans. At the end of the day it is competent, well-trained, highly disciplined and highly motivated players that are the key to the team’s success.
Good management and administration are needed to run a cricket organization but the team will not win its battles on the field unless the players are motivated to fight. No one has as yet found out how to administer or manage players into battle. US general Omar Bradley once said that the greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead. And Vince Lombardi the famous American football coach said, “Coaches who can outline their plans on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get into their players and motivate.”
In sport motivation depends more on the needs and aspirations of those who are to be motivated – the players – than the needs and goals of the coaches. But too often that priority is reversed. The same applies to change. Coaches who suggest change are convinced of its benefits but the players who have to implement the change might not see its value because it might not address their needs and concerns. How important then are motivation and player management?
Sir George Alleyne recently gave a brilliant Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture in Trinidad. I would encourage every West Indian to read this lecture. In his address he quoted Sir Wesley Hall as saying that Frank Worrell was a great man-manager. He added that Frank never denigrated the person. He would identify the fault and address it in personal interaction, never in public. Sir George also quoted Cammie Smith as saying that Worrell spent as much time speaking about life and living in personal interaction as he spent in discussing cricket. Such was the rapport and respect that there was ready compliance with his instructions on and off the field because one did not want to disappoint the skipper.
Clive Lloyd did similar things with his players. Worrell and Lloyd fully understood their players and knew how to get the best out of them. In a Test match in Perth, Joel Garner bowled about 5 or 6 no balls in one over, became quite frustrated and started to lose composure and control. Lloyd then went up to him and asked, “What size shoes do you wear?” Joel stuttered and said “Size 16.”  Lloyd then countered, “You wear size 16 and you can’t get a piece of your boot behind the line. Come on man.” Joel never bowled another no ball in the match.
These types of motivational and man-management skills are singularly lacking in today’s West Indies administrators and coaches. In the last few years the relationships between the players and the coaches and between the players and administrators hit rock bottom. One only has to look back at the hostility between the senior players and the coach to see the magnitude of the problem and the silly manner in which the conflict was handled. The same inflexible, autocratic and punitive attitude has now been used against Narine for staying on in India to play the IPL final thereby missing one day of the West Indies training camp, The more things change the more they stay the same. The use of intimidation, fear, and punishment occasionally work as a motivational technique but too often it is counterproductive because it disrupts performance and frequently creates resentment, disrespect, disloyalty and a stifling of talent.
The people in charge of the West Indies players can continue with their autocratic and outmoded practices and stifle the talent of the players or they can learn from Frank Worrell and Clive Lloyd and get the best out of their teams and players.
Pybus must now spend most of his time motivating the players and other stakeholders to implement his strategy. But effective execution will only happen if at the same time he gets rid of limiting beliefs, bad habits, poor excuses, disruptive insularities, political infighting and outmoded management traditions. And he must constantly remind his people that good leadership starts with self-leadership.

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