WICB blunders once more

Throughout the 135 years of its existence, from that first rustic match between the then British colonies of Barbados and Demerara at the Bay Pasture in 1865 to the present day of lack of professionalism, commercialism and globalisation, West Indies cricket has been buffeted by a succession of crises.

They have mirrored the affairs of the time and their origins have been as much political, social and racial as sporting.

The game has weathered them all so that there is no other entity we can call truly West Indian that has remained intact for nearly as long.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) is the nearest challenger and that is a mere 52.

Yet, as it has spread to every corner of every territory, as it has become the passion of every West Indian of whatever race or creed, as more of its players have been numbered among the greatest and as its administration has matched the Independence and democratisation of our governments, it has become more and more entangled in turmoil. It is a strange irony.

The set of circumstances that have led to the present sorry pass now raise the very real question, not so much as to what does the future hold for West Indies cricket, but whether there is a future at all.

Given the resilience it has shown over the years, such misgivings might be unduly overstated, but I think not.

Nor, I am happy to say, do the relevant governments which, long before the latest discord, had summoned a conference in May at the Cave Hill Campus of the UWI to try to remedy the situation.

Normally, sporting organisations are well advised to stay as far away from government intervention, however well intentioned, as any batsman would from a Malcolm Marshall bouncer.

Caricom's record in handling difficult situations in other areas hardly recommends it and nor does the experience with other such meetings.

But, in this case, someone has got to stand up and try to do something about the threat to our most cherished institution. It might as well be Owen Arthur, Keith Mitchell and their colleagues.

Certainly the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), the organisation charged with the responsibility of maintaining the strength and status of our game, has shown itself incapable of dealing with the problem. Indeed, it is part of the problem.

The rapid, depressing devaluation of standards on the field can be partly traced back to an absence of proper development programmes when the West Indies team was bestriding the world.

The rampant indiscipline that has undermined the present generation can be sourced to the self-centred superstars who were allowed to do as they please.

The insularity that has been the inevitable bane of every facet of West Indian life, most of all its cricket, has repeatedly surfaced of late within the WICB itself.

Its public and human relations have been so woeful it has alienated a host of great players and the majority of the public. It is not so much that it has always been wrong but that it has made a habit of seeming to be wrong.

The situation over the coaching job that has caused such an angry and violent reaction in Antigua is the archetypal WICB blunder. Any fool could have seen it coming. Even this column did, back in December.

No one can possibly excuse the loutish behaviour of those Antiguans who chose to break down gates and smash windows at the WICB offices last week and the Press denigration there of Roger Harper, a good man, a true West Indian and the outstanding candidate, was insularity at its ugliest.

But, as in so many similar, earlier instances, it would never have come to that had the issue been properly handled.

Richards himself has been mature and diplomatic in the circumstances.

Hopefully, he will remain to be involved in restoring the strength and pride in West Indies cricket but the signs are not encouraging.

His predecessor, Clive Lloyd, has made his exit, frustrated and bitter; and former Test players, members of the WICB's cricket committee who, by their public pronouncements, feel the same way.

Nor are the present players any happier when they find themselves shunted around the Caribbean and made to play first-class matches at venues and on pitches that are patently not first-class and when so many blunders are made that directly affect them.