Mon, Apr 16, '07
commentary by DALE RANKINE
Ken Gordon and his board aren't the only ones responsible for the state of West Indies cricket.
While Mr. Gordon has his own flaws, and must take responsibility for some of the decisions he made without unanimity (or consensus, if indeed so) there are so many others who have served WI cricket, without distinction for many years and have presided over only the demise of our beloved game
Lara is not to be blamed alone though. NO, not at all. But certainly has been as great a liability as he's been an asset. He sets no example for the players. He remains the only top player to practice so little (no wonder so many bowlers can easily exploit his known and uncorrected weaknesses, series after series).
And of worthy note, he is the only captain, which is recurrently re-appointed, that I am aware of (perhaps in any international sport on the globe) who does not participate (anymore) in his country's/region's domestic tournament. These days he does not even have to give any explanation, but all other players must perform in the same tournament to make the team he captains.
Since in every series (all be it long after the series is lost to the opposition) Lara comes off with a good performance, his lack of match practice leads these players in his team (who are not nearly as gifted as he is) to think they can just turn up and make the team.
THIS DEFIES COMMON SENSE AND GOOD LOGIC, AND MUST BE A SERIOUS DE-MOTIVATING FACTOR. OF COURSE TEAM MEMBERS (Or would be members) ADMIT THIS TO THEIR OWN DEMISE.
With this paltry example of leadership, I don't how we continue to expect so much from our obviously talented, but young, impressionable cricketers, (most of whom have no professional experience prior to, or even while playing). I was deeply saddened to see how gullible folks were to accept that Sarwan's recent exclusion was due to poor attitude, later some mystery illness, though he was able to play more games than the fit players in India, while being in the KFC and Carib Beer series while in Jamaica alone.
Sadly, some don't worry about performance so much, since the few options we have, or choose to have, mean they are certainties for the team, whether they are performing or not, or have corrected glaring technical deficiencies or not. Chris Gayle, seems to fit this category very well.
I have no reason for hating this guy, especially since I know him since he was playing cricket at Excelsior High School here in Jamaica, and have seen him develop over the years. The guy has talent, as many of the other players, but clearly does not take the time to correct his errors. With the advent of slow motion video, it is baffling to understand how other players have moved on and Samuels, Bravo and othesr have stagnated. And I know coaches have tried.
Finally, we must praise the performance of Darren Powell in the CWC. Sarwan, too, really tried in the last game, and Shiv, the ever honest performer, has given us or first and perhaps only CWC 2007 century.
It is a pity that we have left out (against any explained our justifiable reason) Jerome Taylor. We were on the verge of beginning to form a decent new ball partnership. Only God knows, who and why this process has been (temporarily I hope) derailed. All may not be lost though. Today, it was good to hear Darren in the interview on KLAS 89 here in Jamaica saying the guys are really trying, and that since he hates losing, even when he performs well and the team loses, he remains
upset with himself.
If only we had others, who would not just say this but act it. What a team we would have. But, since we have a habit of performing after we have no chance of advancing, I guess we can expect at least one win in one of our two remaining games.
As an aside, I guess the Board should consider dumping for GOOD, the idea of 'A' teams and related tours. It would save them quite a bit, while the state of impecunity remains a problem. They must tell those that play on these teams that they are essentially non-entities for the senior team.
Sylvester Joseph and Darren Sammy must be cursing their luck to have performed well on 'A' team after 'A' team. I hope they will use better instincts and either not accept further calls to this joke team (since there is no follow-on or graduation), or simply just try to play cricket in their native lands.
