Solutions for a sorry mess
Tony Cozier on a crucial week for cricket in the Caribbean
11-Aug-2005
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Perceptive man that he is, the new WICB president no doubt recognises the potential perils of the fallout from a dispute that gradually degenerated into the language of the rum shop, tore players apart to such an extent that two West Indies touring teams had to be separated into different hotels in Colombo and even set off a furious, widely publicised argument between two prime ministers at a Caricom summit.
He has declared settlement of the dispute with the WIPA to be one of his immediate priorities. As president of the organisation charged with ensuring the overall well-being of West Indies cricket, he obviously shares the hope of every West Indian to have all the players available for selection. He would not be president if he didn't.
It is what happens when that is achieved that must concern him and his colleagues, as much as it does Ramnarine and his.
How will players at such odds with each other suddenly bond together in a unified West Indies team-or, for that matter, any territorial team?
How will selectors properly assess the progress indisputably made by several of those who chose to go to Sri Lanka and the form and fitness of those who chose not to, given that there is no first-class cricket before the tour of Australia for three Tests in November?
How will coach Bennett King manage to engender the same spirit that earned the team of ridiculed reserves in Sri Lanka such respect that Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said he would rather tackle India in the one-day final?
If I may be so bold, let me put forward a suggestion to the new president and his board that, I believe, would kill with one stone the encircling corbeaux ready to continue feeding on the carcass of West Indies cricket.
It is for the staging of two four-day competitive trial matches next month in Guyana, the only territory virtually guaranteed dry weather at that time.
September 16 to 19 and 22 to 25 are the dates I've jotted down.
The squads, each of 13, would comprise all the players originally chosen for the Sri Lanka tour, those who appeared in the Tests in Sri Lanka and any others the selectors deem deserving from the "A" team on its simultaneous tour of Sri Lanka.
They would be integrated equally, meaning that those who went and those who didn't would play alongside each other in the same team under a designated captain.
Bennett King would be coach of one squad, his assistant David Moore of the other. Bryce Cavanagh would be there as trainer to maintain the fitness of those players who have kept up with their training programmes and spruce up those who haven't.
Each outfit would ideally have a former West Indies player as technical consultant, or whatever title the board can come up with, not only to assist on cricketing matters but to help develop reconciliation between the players.
The purpose of the exercise would be three-fold.
It would, above everything else, bring all the players together and impress on them that there is no "Real West Indies" and no "Bogus West Indies", but simply One West Indies that desperately needs to break the culture of defeatism that has enveloped it for a decade and more, no matter who represents it on the field.
If there are those who have a problem playing with their fellow West Indians and fellow cricketers, president Gordon, coach King, the selectors and every one else must advise them that there is no place for them in any West Indies team.
Secondly, the occasion would provide proper preparation for what, at present, is the toughest assignment of all, a Test series in Australia in November.
Without such groundwork, whatever West Indies team takes it on will go short of match practice, more especially those who have had no meaningful cricket since the end of the international home series in early June.
In this regard, it is mind-boggling, but significant, that so few are playing club cricket where it is available in their home territory.
The matches would also create competition for places, a missing element that has tended to promote complacency in West Indies teams for some time. It doesn't mean that Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan or Chris Gayle would have to score hundreds to guarantee their places.
Selectors are always persuaded more by experience and proven records than temporary form but there are only a few in the West Indies at present who qualify on the former basis.
The organisation of such an event at short notice is clearly more difficult than it sounds. The WICB's record on this account is not encouraging and it already has the regional One-day tournament penned in for sometime in October, prior to the team's departure for Australia on October 22.
In the present circumstances or, come to think of it, any circumstances a One-day tournament is utterly irrelevant as preparation for a team heading off to the other side of the world to contest three Tests against the game's most powerful opponents.
Even if things between the WICB and the WIPA were all sweetness and light, a couple of competitive, four-day matches would still be far more beneficial.
There are bound to be some complications that haven't occurred to me but no doubt will to the WICB and the WIPA.
In the meantime, I put forward the following possible squads from which the two elevens would be chosen:
Squad one Devon Smith, Xavier Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Wavell Hinds (captain), Narsingh Deonarine, Omari Banks, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Tino Best, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins. Coach: Bennett King.
Squad two Chris Gayle, Ryan Ramdass, Runako Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Sylvester Joseph, Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradshaw, Dave Mohamed, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Deighton Butler, Dwight Washington.
The assumption is that Jermaine Lawson would still be subject of the ICC's bowling review committee and ineligible on that score for Australia and that Marlon Samuels and Ryan Hinds remain out of favour, reportedly for failing to keep up with their assigned fitness regimes.