Good move by Windies board (29 October 1998)

29 October 1998

Good move by Windies board

Tony Becca

The West Indies Cricket Board's decision to appoint a psychologist to work with its teams is a good move, and it could not have gone for a better man than Dr. Rudi Webster - the Barbadian who played for Hampshire and worked with the successful West Indies team during Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

As far as performance on the field is concerned, things have not been going well for West Indies cricket recently. After winning the first two World Cup tournaments in 1975 and 1979 and contesting the third final in 1983, the West Indies have been on the sidelines and, probably more importantly, after dominating Test cricket in the years between 1976 and 1995, the West Indies are struggling to get back on top.

Unlike previous years, however, when it simply sat back and waited for things to happen - for stars to drop from the sky, the board, under the leadership of president Pat Rousseau, is now putting into place the infrastructure which it hopes will develop West Indies players who in turn will carry West Indies cricket back to where it was a few years ago.

In years gone by - those years when cricket was the game to play, when the majority of youngsters played the game and when the numbers of those who played, plus the competition to get into teams at all levels, produced champions, such infrastructure was probably not necessary.

Today, with less and less youngsters playing the game, it is absolutely necessary.

It will take time for what is being put in place to bear fruit but there is no question that if West Indies cricket hopes to return to its glory days, it cannot sit back and hope for things to happen. It has to act.

Apart from the new system by which members of the selector panels will be chosen, the action has included the formation of a panel of coaches under director Reggie Scarlett, seminars for coaches, camps for teams, training sessions for young players in specific areas and the use of video cameras for skill assessment, diagnosis, and correction of technique.

Add to that a psychologist, especially one as experienced as Dr. Webster, and the board is laying the foundation for a better tomorrow and putting together a good team to do the work.

In recent years, many of those selected to represent the West Indies have been under-achievers, and the consensus has been that although they appear to possess talent, they have not been able to deal with the pressure of the occasion. Dr. Webster has the skill to deal with that.

There is, however, one concern.

In recognising the importance of brilliant fielding, the board has contracted someone to work on that aspect of West Indies cricket and again there is no question that that is necessary.

The concern is this: why Julien Fountain?

In Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Roger Harper, Faoud Bacchus and Gus Logie, the West Indies have produced some of the world's outstanding fielders, Harper and Logie are members of the coaching staff, they should be good enough for a job like that and, unless it is too much for them to take on, one of them should have been used.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)