West Indies cricket needs a coach not in the traditional mould, qualified in technical aspects of cricket; rather we require someone to be an inspirational force. He must understand the desperation of the moment; a leader in thought and action and one who can journey with the team to take them into a realm of thinking and functioning beyond the present mental and physical disarray.
The motivating force must represent the yearning of West Indian cricket civilisation to rise up from today’s entrenched position of being the pariahs, the water carriers of international cricket to being the definers of the contemporary game; as we have been in the past.
The individual needed must have himself experienced both the pain and the glory of West Indian cricket. I am saying that those are the qualities and capacities that the West Indian peoples have to look for as we seek not merely to replace Phil Simmons, but rather our search is for a liberator who will lead a revolution.
The fact is that the great West Indian leaders in every sphere of our existence have personified the kind of individual our cricket needs. He must not merely be the star capable of sparkling feats on the cricket field; but, and I come back to my earlier description, an “inspirational force” who can prevent our cricketing nation from sliding into irrelevance.
My initial thought is for Darren Sammy. He has displayed belief in the West Indian nation, is unapologetically so having not sought to fit into the caricature of the West Indian seeking to so please others that he creates a caricature of himself.
Moreover, I have never discerned in him, island insularity; he is West Indian concerned only with the greater good of our cricketing nation above and beyond merely clinging to parochial sentiments. However, whether it’s Sammy or someone else of that ilk, he will need the assistance of a professional sports psychologist with the insight of Dr. Rudi Webster.
In respect of on-field leadership, Nicholas Pooran was pushed prematurely into the captaincy of the white-ball team. He has not the maturity and experience for the role and responsibility to lead and inspire; the additional burden is wrecking his batting.
When he gets to the crease he has to think of setting an example for the entire team; he does not have the capacity in his batting ability to do what is needed.
We previously did the same thing to Jason Holder who was then just pulling his game together to become a champion all-rounder; the burden of leadership was too much for him to carry. He has now matured and is ideally suited to captaincy of the red ball team. He may need persuasion and a rationale to re-accept leadership.
Where however we must depart from our past, is that Sammy, the mental coach, Braithwaite and Holder must not be left to be lone rangers, they must be supported by an institutional structure that will reach deep into our society to lay down the base to feed the on-field needs.
In this respect, I have long advocated the creation of a subculture of excellence to counter the decline of West Indian society into entrenched negativity, criminality, political maladministration and corruption.
That creative subculture must incorporate administrators, coaches, players and supporters. The task is to fashion minds to reimagine and create a new cultural ethos to influence and instigate change in all aspects of our cricket.
Unfortunately, the creative intervention I am advocating has not been a strong point of West Indian cricket administrators and systems. We, and I use the royal we very deliberately, as the West Indian cricketing nation consisting of the people and institutions cannot stand on the sidelines as we seek to re-establish a place in world cricket (effectively in the global civilization) in the contemporary period.
We have to come to appreciate the vital importance of active participation in our fate beyond the cricket field of play and to involve ourselves in the conception, inspiration and implementation of a strategy to recreate the great West Indian cricketing nation.
On the day-to-day building up from the ground, we have to do the obvious of what is required of the times: establish a permanent and all-encompassing academy at the regional level to teach techniques in batting, bowling, fielding, preparation of young players for leadership and inspirational roles. These features have become a standard part of the cricketing framework of the champion teams of international cricket. Too many of our players are being exposed for technical and psychological weaknesses on the field of play.
Players must arrive at the international level fully technically equipped and understanding of the basic elements of their discipline, batting, bowling and fielding. In addition to having a specialist skill, players have to be multi-dimensional, able to perform with high competence, if not distinction in all aspects of the game. Bowlers to curb scoring at the death; batsmen who understand the mechanics of building an innings even in 20-overs cricket. These are the players who must be nurtured at the Academy.
Next, our scribes.
To be continued.
