Getting the mix right (11 July 1999)

11 July 1999

Getting the mix right

Lance Gibbs

It bleeds my heart.

Why is West Indies cricket in its current state?

Is it the money or are the players of late just not good enough?

Constructive criticism is not popular in the Caribbean. One could lose good friends as a result of exercising your right to criticise. However, constructive criticism is a must, if West Indies cricket is to regain its rightful place at the top of world cricket.

Once upon a time, most of the administrators of West Indies cricket were former players, for example Tom Pierce, Kenny Wishart, Jeff Stollmeyer, Allan Rae and Sir Clyde Walcott to name a few.

The above mentioned gentlemen were respected players, who were able to teach the young and upcoming players discipline, dedication and desire. Not so nowadays. These three R's (or is it the 3 D's?) are very hard to identify among our cricketers.

Some of us believe that, recently, with nearly all of the administrators being businessmen with little knowledge of the game, this necessary balance has been glaringly missing. We need to find the right mix of businessman and cricketer, or we stand the chance of our young players forgetting what it is to play firstly for their country and then for a group of islands called the West Indies.

The youngsters need to be told that fame and the will to reach the top are in themselves very rewarding goals.

It remains a mystery why, despite having produced some of the greatest players the world has ever known in the game, we can't seem to get a high percentage of them involved in West Indies cricket. Meanwhile the other cricketing nations are not only using their own former players but some West Indians to boot!!!.

The area of representation at territorial level also needs to be examined.

Because of poor representation in a territorial eleven, a WICB selection panel suffers. Of course, in my view some of the teams selected have shown that the one thing that can destroy West Indies cricket quickly and effectively is rearing its ugly head again. Insularity.

To remedy this situation, squads of young players must be chosen and placed in a clinic environment, where all the basics of the game will be taught thoroughly...batting, fielding, fast bowling, swing bowling, spin bowling and wicketkeeping.

There should be sessions where the game and its tactics are explained and discussed.

These clinics should be conducted by former outstanding players. This is not a new idea as these types of clinics were, conducted during the Packer era, when myself, Wes Hall and Sir Garfield Sobers held sessions in every island where we played. As a matter of fact, this was so successful that it was done in Australia.

Can you believe that five years ago, some leading players were on a development committee which met in Barbados, and quickly disappeared. We need to follow-up on these efforts and the development programme must be structured and sustained to really be effective.

We must not panic but we should use the tools at our disposal to help our youngsters and bring West Indies cricket back to its rightful place at the top of World cricket.

I don't think it is impossible. Just as I said, the right mix of businessman and former West Indies cricketers should at least start the ball rolling.

The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the West Indies Cricket Board.

Source :: The Trinidad Express