The crisis to come (11 November 1998)

11 November 1998

The crisis to come

Tony Becca

The West Indies tour to South Africa is on, and as it has been for years, from now on, the interest of the Windies fans will be on the performance of the players and the fortunes of the team.

It will, however, be more than it has been: this is the series of series, this is the West Indies versus South Africa, this is the series the world wanted to see in the 1960s when the West Indies boasted batsmen like Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai and South Africa Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards, and there is much at stake. Victory is important.

The series, however, will be dogged by the impasse which threatened the tour, and in between the shots of batsmen like Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and the explosive deliveries of fast bowlers such as Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, those who really love West Indies cricket will be thinking about the effect it will have on West Indies cricket.

And there is no question that it will have an impact.

To effectively lead, there must be a level of respect for the leader and from the leader, and it will be interesting to see what respect the Board will be able to demand, not only from sponsors, but from a captain and vice-captain who were fired and then reinstated, from those players who were fined and then pardoned after a stand-off followed by ultimatums from the players.

It will also be interesting to see what respect the players will have for a Board which talked tough, acted tough, and then not only surrendered, but based on the reports that the players got all their demands, unconditionally so.

Tough times are ahead for a Board which will not only have to deal with Alloy Lequay of Trinidad and Tobago - a loyal defender of Lara, the president of one of its affiliates and who, following his many problems with president Pat Rousseau, has an axe to grind, with Tony Marshall of Barbados - the president of one of its affiliates who is planning to take over the presidency, but also with a captain as arrogant as Lara, and with players who, according to reports, refused to speak to Clive Lloyd and Joel Garner when they went to London to talk peace.

According to the reports, the players refused to deal with Lloyd saying that they knew not whether he was their manager or a representative of the Board, and they refused to talk to Garner - a Board member and a selector - saying that he could not make decisions and that therefore it would have been a waste of their time.

It is also interesting to note that, according to those same reports, David Holford - the chief executive officer of the Players' Association and the man who represented the players during the early negotiations for the tour - was in London for the meeting and was also brushed aside by the players.

The tour is on and many are happy. West Indians, however, are a proud people, and to some the entire episode was an embarrassment.

It was, as Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados has noted, an embarrassment that a West Indies problem was solved, not in the West Indies but in England.

Apart from West Indians like pioneers Learie Constantine, George Headley, and Frank Worrell who fought the good fight, C. L. R. James must be turning in his grave.

Maybe the time has come for James' masterpiece, Beyond the Boundary, to be necessary reading for every potential West Indies representative.

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