I feel compelled to pen this article, as my heart bleeds for my friend and coach, Phil Simmons. This is regarding the West Indies’ batting woes.
The inept performances by the batters hurt every cricket fan in the Caribbean, each time we taste defeat. Simmons suggested the reintroduction of the high-performance center to address this dire situation.
Allow me to suggest another solution, but first, let me give a little background to my suggestion. Followers of the game locally will recall the Wes Hall league and players who emerged from this tournament. Outstanding players such as Theo Cuffie, Bernard Julien, the late Rangy Nanan, and Larry Gomes, just to name a few. There was no magic wand, but the league taught cricketers the proper technique in all three departments of the game. The batting, bowling, and fielding of our players must improve.
The former West Indies great Wes Hall made sure we emphasized detail in the three aspects of the game. After many years, they replaced the league with both age group zonal competitions and the Secondary School Cricket League. And that’s where our “trouble” started.
Wrong Emphasis
Winning titles and trophies was the emphasis of zonal administrators and the secondary school cricket league and not on the proper development of the player. When was the last time this country produced an outstanding player who progressed through the West Indies Cricket team and established and dominated the regional tournaments and the world stage?
Only the gifted and God-sent Brian Charles Lara did such a feat. No one else. At the secondary school level, the most recent is Jeremy Solozano, who was called to the West Indies team, is yet to play a test match, but his batting average is not where it is supposed to be in such company.
This is not just happening at the zonal and secondary school levels, but also at the coaching schools, where players are allowed to get away with many batting and bowling flaws. I have first-hand knowledge of this.
In the recent four-day champion fixture between host team Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and the Jamaica Scorpions which Red Force won, the Scorpions were bowled out for a paltry one hundred and forty-one (141) in their first innings on a batting-friendly surface to both bowlers and batters.
West Indies Vice-Captain Jermaine Blackwood got an excellent start but lost his wicket via a soft dismissal from an ordinary delivery from off-spinner Brian Charles. Blackwood gave an easy catch to the fieldsman standing at backward short leg.
My Call
Technical batting flaws were evident during the Scorpions’ innings. I call on coaches at all levels to pay particular attention to details in the three departments of the game. If the West Indies’ batting woes are to end. We will produce better quality players if this is done. We may see an improvement in the all-round performances of players at both junior and senior levels of the game.
Phil Simmons, if still at the helm of the West Indies senior team, will not be as sad as he is today.
