Time for tough talk (19 January 1999)

19 January 1999

Time for tough talk

Tony Cozier in Johannesburg

The situation is desperate, the imminent opponents are as powerful and as unforgiving as those who have just handed the West Indies their first whitewash in history and the time is critically short.

It is imperative that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) start planning immediately how to meet the daunting challenge of four Tests and seven One-day Internationals against Australia in the Caribbean that open less than a month after the team's return from their calamitous tour of South Africa.

It needs look no further than the South African example. Depressed by their defeat in both Tests and One-day International series in England last summer, the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) summoned the players to its Johannesburg headquarters and had what captain Hansie Cronje described as "a very tough chat" with them.

"They really thought we were a better side than what the results showed in the past two or three years and it was time that us players realised the responsibility of wearing the green and gold for your country," Cronje said. "If you try your best and you still lose, you can't ask for more than that but they just felt there were times when we really could have done a little bit better."

While that straight-talking meeting was in progress, the West Indian boot was on the other foot. The players had summoned the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president to London and they were the ones doing the talking about their grievances.

As the West Indies team remained holed up in their airport hotel during that standoff and prevaricated over the South African tour, a planned week-long camp had to be cancelled, eliminating vital preparation.

In the meantime, the South Africans were diligently preparing under their coaches at a camp of their own in Bloemfontein that Cronje later credited as critical to their success.

Hopefully learning from those lessons, the WICB should now select a squad of 20, to assemble at either of the two private cricket academies, St Georges University in Grenada or the Caribbean Cricket Centre in Antigua, on February 20 for 10 days of intensive groundwork in readiness for the Australians.

It must be prepared to allow the Busta Cup semifinals to proceed without those players-as the round-robin matches have done without those in South Africa-with the explanation to the new, understanding sponsors that it is a unique situation in the immediate interest of West Indies cricket.

Like the South Africans were, those chosen-and several will have to be new-need to be reminded what it means to wear the maroon and silver of the West Indies, a responsibility that appears to have been generally forgotten. Without overemphasising the point, for they must be acutely aware of it, they must be made to understand that the whippings in Pakistan and South Africa were simply unacceptable.

While it is up to the WICB to make all the arrangements, the president and other executives need to be kept as far away from the players as possible. There is simply too much lingering distrust and enmity between the two groups following the Heathrow showdown.

Instead, the sessions should be conducted by a committee comprising some of the great players of the past who have no formal links with the WICB and enjoy the deference and admiration of the players. I can think of four knights for a start-Sir Conrad Hunte, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Gary Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes.

They would stay on for the duration, along with manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall and any other coaches as are necessary to lend their support. Julien Fountain, the fielding specialist who had been contracted for the aborted Johannesburg camp, is essential to the whole set-up.

Captain Brian Lara has called for "some sort of help outside of cricket that would make the guys more competitive upstairs". It is the same sort of help Michael Holding, and others, have been recommending for Lara himself for some time for which they have been so ignorantly castigated.

Long overdue, a sports psychologist such as the highly regarded Barbadian Dr Rudi Webster, who heads the new St George's Academy, would be included in the set-up and probably attached to the team throughout the Australian series.

It is vital that Lara, as captain, be singled out for particular attention, especially from Sobers and Richards who have been in his position and whose opinions and status he respects. For too long, he has heard from sychophants and popularity seekers whose pandering has not properly prepared him for the responsibility of leadership.

The South African experience has been a chastening experience for him. It was sad to hear him admit to disunity in his team, even sadder to witness only one of his players applaud after his mandatory interview at the on-field presentation ceremony at Centurion Park on Monday.

Lara is a unique talent who has, for some time, been in danger of self-destructing. We must make every effort to save that talent for the sake of our cricket and cricket in general. It is not too late.

Above all, we need to save our cricket. Period. The passion of our people for it withers with each successive controversy and each new humbling defeat.

The team can start by at least showing renewed pride and fight against the mighty Australians. To do that, it must be adequately prepared, technically, physically and mentally. In South Africa, it certainly was not.

Man-of-the-Series Jacques Kallis, who finished top of the batting averages, was also good enough to claim third place among the bowlers. Kallis' 485 runs at an average of 69.28 was the highest aggregate in the series and his 17 wickets put him s the third highest wickettaker on the South African side.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)