Lack of pride the cause of West Indies cricket debacle

Dear Editor,

Do West Indian cricketers lack pride (in playing for nation or region?) That is the charge being levelled, justifiably perhaps, by a leading Indian cricket commentator, Nirmal Shekar, writing in the prestigious The Hindu newspaper (published in Chennai).

The charge has come in wake of the West Indies’ dismal performance during the first two tests of the current series.(The West Indies miraculously saved face by holding on to a draw in the second test, thanks to rain that washed out one-and-a-half days of play). Otherwise, it would have been another humiliating defeat that repeated itself so many times over the last decade even against not so strong opponents.

The writer, not unexpectedly blames, management, players, lack of team spirit, and even selectors for the poor state of Windies cricket. As the commentator noted, during the 1970s and 1980s, Windies cricketers offered immense viewing pleasure (in the stands and on TV and even listening on radio) when they had a full arsenal of fearsome bowlers and brilliant batsmen in the line up.

In the last several years, there has hardly been either of the two with the exception of a gutsy Shivnarine Chanderpaul who the selectors discarded because of age even when he was performing better than the youngsters.

Even now, fans in India prefer to watch an obdurate Chanderpaul than what passes for cricket by the current crop of young players chosen by the Clive Lloyd-led selectors. Chanderpaul was dumped for non-performing youths – was that the true reason or was the real reason Lloyd did not want Chanders to break records?

As Shekar commented, the performance of West Indians in the recent two tests was an embarrassment to the great Sir Garry Sobers who was being felicitated in the stands as he turned 80; at his age, he probably would have done much better with the bat than some of those chosen to represent the once mighty Windies.

Shekar writes: “Sir Garry would not have seen a worse West Indies side. He would have done much better all alone against the Indians than this entire West Indies team.” And this was the best team the selection panel said it could come up with.

Is it not time for the panel to go since the team it selected has failed the region time and again? Why seek the removal of the management when management said it is the selectors who are responsible for selecting the worst team?

The selectors should have dignity and resign.

As Sir Garry told Shekar, when he (Sobers) was playing for West Indies, it was for pride. “We played for honour and pride…. It was all about the team and our personal goals were to be the best.” But not this crop of players for whom money is everything; (not honour, or pride or skill, as in the days when Kanhai, Kalicharran, Sobers, Richards, the three Ws, etc, dominated the scene.

This crop of players abandoned a tour to India for more money – honour and pride were not part of their thinking except for a Shivnarine Chanderpaul who wanted to play his final overseas series.

As Shekar noted, West Indies cricket is in a free fall with crowd at matches being less than 1500 when at one time there would be 15,000. This is attributed to several factors: bad selection of players put together by an inept selection committee; terrible management that is not interested in reform; 20/20cricket which has greater interests from players; conflict between players and management; conflict between players and the selection panel; monetary greed; bad habits of players.

As Shekar charges, the decline of West Indies cricket is a result of, more than anything else, “the character of players and culture of the team” the cricket respected commentator Peter Roebuck some years ago said.

So what is the solution to the problem facing regional cricket? Shekar feels West Indies are not inferior to their counterparts in other countries or from those of the past in the region itself. They need discipline and recognise they are playing for a cause (identity and pride – a motivation to win) and not just money and such a cause will once again propel the team to the top.

Shekar also feels the selectors must put the best team forward (age, race, and who will break record should not matter) – put its heavy arsenal of best batsmen and bowlers to full use. But that is easier said than done as the selectors also have axes to grind and who will break or make records and the management is unwilling to make way for better administrators.

And it is not too late to bring back Chanderpaul and give him a fitting farewell in a last hometest match.

Yours faithfully,

Vishnu Bisram