Open Letter from Guyanese Expat in the United States on Windies Cricket

Jul 26, 2020 Letters, Sports

Letter to the Sports Editor

Dear Sports Editor,

My name is Winston Skerrett and I am expat living in the United States who is disheartened by the complete mismanagement of West Indies Cricket and the strategic approach taken by WICB to mitigate the issues facing WI Cricket. I am also embarrassed by the performance of WI players, but understand WI cricket performance is a reflection of the administrative prowess WICB to manage WI cricket. It is now incumbent upon WICB to maintain the standard of WI Cricket by selecting the correct players, while constructing a sustainable development cricket plan. The onus is now on WICB to maintain WI Cricket as an economic, social and political brand for all West Indians.
WI Cricket is a social movement that provides hope and encouragement to expats globally, while serving as reminder at home to young West Indians anything is possible and they too can dream of one day overcoming obstacles in life. The metamorphic nature and symbolism of a strong WI Cricket deconstructs the global myths of white supremacy doctrine so much prevalent in contemporary world politics.
This symbolism is no different to the pride that comes from a strong Jamaican track team winning gold medals, triumphing over the giants of the Global North by discarded residents of the Global South. WI cricket serves a social movement similar to the sweet sounds of Calypso and Soca music coming from Trinidad & Tobago, reggae music from Jamaica and folk music of Guyana. Embedded in its lyrics are defiant messages urging the marginalized in the ghettos to hold their heads up high to fight the good fight.
More importantly, WI Cricket serves as an economic engine for the Caribbean by providing a vehicle for which expats and Europeans could enjoy while planning their vacations to the region. A strong respected WI Cricket Team provides investment opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment by Multi-national Corporations looking for opportunities in a globalized world. Globalization has provided economic vehicles through the advancement of technology to advance the development of WI Cricket, but WICB has failed to capitalize on these developments. The failures of WICB to capitalize on globalization are evident in the manner in which administrative decisions are made concerning WI Cricket.
Over the years WICB has mismanaged WI Cricket brand built by Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Weeks Worrell & Walcott, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Brian Charles Lara. WICB has taken cavaliering approach when making strategic decisions concerning the viability of WI Cricket with impunity. WICB has failed to understand the conceptual frame works of economic development, global financial markets and political forecasting to position WI Cricket in a position to capitalize on the global shifts which has occurred.
W I cricket has fallen low in the pecking order and is now surpassed by countries which were once considered developing nations in the game. The abundance of cricketing talent produced by WI Cricket over the years largely in part by the endogenous strength of players has now vanished.
The WICB has now produced players with monster egos, inflated salaries and demonstrative buffoonish mannerisms, Players, who earn more than the average American College Basketball player and European Academy Football player. The current crop of WI Cricket players’ performance is a direct reflection of WICB management of WI cricket. Long gone are the days in which the giants of WI Cricket provided absolutism to WI cricket. Today’s crop of WI Cricket players assume the mantle of lackluster performance, coaches asleep at the wheel during global broadcast of games, managers mismanaging teams and failing to articulate & execute strategic game plans. WI cricket is now embedded with players capitulating when faced with adversity on the field betraying their forefathers who paved the way for their existence in a sport once dominated by colonial powers. One can only wait to see what the next twenty years of WI Cricket would entail and how long will WICB remain unresponsive to the changing global cricket environment; and when would WICB present a development initiative for the future of WI Cricket.
Regards,
Winston Ivor Skerrett
Maryland, USA.