Get involved to return W.I. Cricket to the top

It is significant that changes have been made at the level of the board of Cricket West Indies.  It is encouraging too that the new board has adopted a more thoughtful approach to the organisation and administration of West Indies cricket inclusive of the dumping of the degrading “Windies” designation. 

Moreover it is of historic importance that we have returned to our historic and full-of-character and accomplishment title of West Indies.   It’s a name representative of 90 years plus of accomplishment and that we have contributed to sharing with the world many of the greatest of players to have played this unparalleled field of West Indian societal accomplishment.

It is also refreshing that President Ricky Skerrit and his board have freed the environment of the recrimination and spite that the former president raged against quite a few of our most accomplished, loyal and proud West Indian players.

But the restoration of the great West Indian tradition in cricket is in front of all of us as West Indians.  The challenge is to institute meaningful participation in this inherited legacy bequeath to all of us, at home and in the Diaspora, by our great ancestors.  And we should keep reminding ourselves and especially the younger generation and those to come of the great West Indian heroes who established West Indies cricket and made it comparable to that of any of the other great Test-playing nations.

George Challenor, Clifford Roach (century before lunch in a county game), George John, the great George Headley – unarguably one of the greatest batsmen of all time – CLR James, the finest of our cricket writers, referred to Bradman as the “White Headley”.

Learie Constantine, Weekes, Walcott and Worrell (the 3Ws) the later the finest and most tactically insightful captain of all time was the man who demonstrated that the black man had the capability to lead West Indian teams to England and Australia.

The incomparable Garfield Sobers, the “greatest cricketer on earth or mars” – labeled so by King Sparrow. Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs (one time holder of the record for the most dismissals in Tests 309) the greatest of fast bowlers batsmen everywhere had nightmares when going up against them: Hall, Griffith, Roberts, Holding, Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Walsh and a half dozen others only marginally below their pace and wrecking capacity.

In Brian Lara and Vivian Richards, West Indies provided the world of cricket with two of the most destructive batsmen ever, with the likes of Lloyd, Grenidge, Haynes (arguably the greatest pair of opening batsmen) Rowe and Kallicharran and another dozen batsmen deserving of being listed as world class players.

Creative minds in cricket, fairness, sportsmanship and West Indian panache are a few of the gifts we have given to the cricketing world.

Like with political governance, administration of West Indies cricket has been anything but democratic; denying widespread people participation in the development of West Indian cricket on the field.   We have moved from the very observable West Indies Cricket Board of Control that was for decades under the grip of the colonials and their elite successors in the region.

When that era ended, and the “Control” removed from the title of the board, there was the widespread feeling and protests that the new local governors washed in the same dye as their predecessors had taken charge.  Farther along the line there was the name change of the board to mimic what was happening elsewhere in the cricket world with the board adopting the present name of Cricket West Indies.

The new masters went further than the colonial masters and accrued all destructive power unto themselves.  The president fired more than a few of the most outstanding and experienced players and coaches.  He hired foreign coaches, who he knew would not talk back to him and sought to exercise power over team selection and the management of players. 

We know of the destructive path that administration of our cricket followed.

But that happened only because we, the owners and progenitors of West Indies cricket sat by, complained but did nothing tangible to grab back our heritage from those dictatorial hands.

History has a way of repeating itself if people sit idly by and do nothing about changing the course of their lives by wrenching it back from “the controllers”, according to Shadow.

This is a call to shake local boards out of their slumber

We as West Indians appreciative of our legacy and the great deeds of our ancestors who brought creativity and joy to cricket world over, must guard against a return of those obsessed with power to satisfy some inner feeling in their being.   And we must engage in this task of taking back the power, and for a number of reasons. 

First and foremost because West Indian cricket is amongst our greatest contributions to world civilisation and sport, we cannot leave it in the hands of a few power-hungry addicts.

Second, we have to share our accumulated knowledge of the game with installed administrators, players, coaches and all involved.

We have to actively lend support to our teams and allow for the necessary interaction between us and our players.  Vivian Richards said when he walked to the wicket he recognised that he was playing for his ancestors who toiled on the sugar estates.

So too did West Indians in the Diaspora in the British society depend on our cricketers to make them walk tall in a society that often failed to recognise their humanity.  Our players past and present yearn for our guidance, admiration and support. We must supply them with the civilisational support they need; make them aware that they did not fall from one of the Breadfruit trees Captain Bligh brought to the Caribbean. .

We must nurture and give respect and encouragement.  Sure be critical of them when need be but don’t seek to drag them down into the gutter; they are our flesh and blood.

How do we lend our support and direction apart from the obvious on-field support?  We must first set out to democratise our cricket.   What do I mean by that?  Intervene with our experience, knowledge and the capacity to demonstrate the power of our voice: let our thoughts be known, respected and be applied where possible and needed in all aspects of the game.

First we must start by democratizing national boards; they cannot be allowed to act as if they have total power and do not have to account to all of us. We must communicate our thoughts on the administration of the game to our national boards; responsibility starts there. Our boards must not think and be allowed to function as if they are law onto themselves.

West Indian history is on our side in terms of setting the agenda for those who have the apparatus of power in their hands.   Back in the 1950s when colonial myths existed about the incapability of black West Indians to lead the West Indies to especially the “Mother” country England and its offspring in Australia, C.L.R. James fought a battle for making Frank Worrell the captain that was unprecedented in the West Indies.

He had one weekly newspaper without a great circulation base but one which reached into the colonial-like administration caucuses of the time.  Change came as a result, not merely on the cricket field but inside the colonial and neo-colonial citadels of power.

Worrell was named captain; he took Sobers, Kanhai, Hunte, Hall and others to Australia and revived Test cricket and represented the West Indies like a general on the field and the consummate diplomat “beyond the boundary”.  

Among other achievements of Worrell was his blending of the West Indian players into a team.  He also went into the then “small islands” in the search for West Indian players.  He laid the foundation and from there sprung the likes of Roberts and Richards.

So West Indians, if our team is to return to the top and to once again attract the respect, even fear that our players drove into the hearts of our opponents, we, all of us need to get involved.

Here’s your opportunity to move West Indies cricket back to the top

How can you and I assist in this effort to show the world of cricket and beyond, that out two T20 World Cup wins were not a flash in the pan?    Let’s not wait until the last moment and bellyache about the selectors not picking the right team, that this player and that one need discipline. 

What should the preparation agenda of the team be like?

Which players need to be retained and given chances and which ones we have to say goodbye to, even if temporarily until they prove themselves capable and reliable?

Should the coaches take a hand-line stance to certain players under performing?

Advice head coach Simmons on how to treat with certain players?

What of the mental preparation of the players?  Should Dr. Rudi Webster to return even if only in a consultancy capacity to assist the young mental coach hired?

It’s clear that our bowling team is the weakest part of our game.  How do we find bowlers and train them for the T20 challenge?

Send your views on these and other matters, we shall publish them and bring them to the attention of the powers that be.  Send your comments to us here at….