‘Give young WI guns a chance' says Gary Sobers

Cricket legend Sir Garfield Sobers believes strongly that there are loads of young, talented cricketers in the West Indies who need exposure before they fall by the wayside.

Sir Garfield, the greatest all-rounder the game has seen, suggested that it was the age-old selection policy of sticking with old hands that had held back the young guns.

"All I hear is that we don't have anybody so we have to keep playing some of these we are playing," said Sir Garfield, who is Barbados' only living national hero.

"I don't believe there is talent, I know there is talent out there. To be given a chance is a different thing."

Sir Garfield, who on Wednesday was voted as one of Wisden's top five cricketers of the 20th century, made 8 032 runs and took 235 wickets in 93 Tests. He drew his analysis from coaching sessions he had with young players a few years ago.

"I had a look at some of them a couple of years ago and I had to ask the question `Where have these boys come from?'. If we don't have players with ability then these boys that I saw, who were looking good with heaps of ability, must have come from somewhere else."

In the ongoing tri-nation One-Day tournament two young batsmen, Wavell Hinds, age 23, and 20-year-old Chris Gayle, have been batting well for the West Indies. Fast bowler Reon King, of Guyana, has also announced himself as a candidate for the future.

Sir Garfield added: "You see some of the people who are playing all the time and there are youngsters who are coming up who are not given the opportunity to perform."

He was not speaking solely of the present team, but, without calling names, referred to the past when selectors kept faith with players.

He noted, with strong conviction, that some of these players were playing today and this meant that upcoming players was not going to get a chance.

Sir Garfield, who also represented Barbados at golf, basketball and football, said that the constant exclusion of young players could lead to them being turned off and turning to other activities.

He said that players have taken to other sports not because they believed they could make it to the international arena, but because cricket was seen as a closed shop.

On the topic of the decline of interest among today's youth, Sir Garfield laid the blame on television: "The saying that basketball and other sports are taking away from cricket is a myth.

"There are so many distractions in the world today and television is one of the biggest ones. We keep complaining about American sports and all kinds of different things but television is one of the biggest distractions for our youngsters today."

He said boys today were caught up in videos, computerised games on television and things of the sort and these distracted from "going outside and playing some kind of sport like we used to do".