I make no apologies. I am an old timer from a bygone era when the West Indies not only owned the public cricket space but controlled it. My generation stayed glued to the radio and television and flocked the grounds because we saw ourselves, our nation and our aspirations in our cricketers. Our cricketers showed us that when the rules are fair and equal we could beat the best, including our former oppressors. The cricket field is symbolic of a larger social space for the poor and political space for the powerless. John Dyson said the other day that West Indies won in the 1970s and 1980s because we were lucky to have a bunch of great cricketers. Poor John exposes why he should not have been the coach--he knows not the most elementary thing about the West Indies and West Indian cricket. Our cricketers were indeed great but their understanding of their socio-political mission was greater. They were born into a Caribbean that had just thrown off the yoke of colonialism. The words of the poet Martin Carter -- "From the nigger yard of yesterday I came with my burden/To the world of tomorrow I turn with my strength-best sum up our great cricketing era.

As I watched our current West Indian team being mauled once again within three days, I wondered about our future. Great cultures thrive not on constant defeat but in their ability to overcome. And this team is not overcoming. The ridicule of the team in the Australian media is hard to swallow but sadly it is close to the truth than on previous occasions. No amount of spin or verbal yorkers by Joel Garner can erase the shame that this team has brought to our region. Let us face the sad truth. Yes, Mr. Tony Cozier the ridicule by the Australian press is deserved. This is the worst West Indies team ever. Not only are the losing, but they have neither the attitude to know what losing means for the West Indies. There are some good players in the team, but cricket is not an individual sport. If the skills of the individual players cannot be blended into a single purpose the team will forever lose.

I have long given up the idea that this is a necessary phase--the low before the triumphant march back to the top. After all it's been fourteen years of agony and shame. Yet we, all of us - administrators, fans and players - are trapped in this growing space of mediocrity, hoping that what we see everyday is just a bad dream. We analyze the present as the present with scant regard for a past that at a minimum gave us hope.

The problems are many, but it starts with leadership. Our selectors, our administrators gave us Chris Gayle as leader and we kneel before his altar as Naipaul's mimic men did. Is Gayle's captaincy the only cause of our recent beating? No! But it is a major obstacle to the meaningful reform that is needed to stop the downward slide. There has always been a place in West Indies cricket culture for raw power whether it's Walcott, Lloyd, Greenidge or Richards. Gayle follows in that tradition. But there is no justification for Gayle as captain-- he has no knowledge of the game either as a catalyst of identity or a battle of tactics and strategy. Not only does he not know, but he has no desire to know. I am not saying Gayle is a moron - he is not. But he is not up to the task of inspiring a sense of purpose, pride and purpose in a group of young men who do not grasp the relationship between the skills and their cultural space. He is one of them. As part of the problem he cannot be part of the solution-certainly not as captain. Most of the team supports him as captain, not because of his superior leadership skills, but because they see in him their wayward selves.

If I oppose Gayle as captain of the West Indies team it is less a commentary on Gayle the player and more a resistance against the most recent phase of globalization that has systematically been destroying West Indies cricket. I want Gayle to stand planted with strong shoulders and swat everything in sight--that's resistance stroke-play. But I want my captain to think beyond the flashing blade and the turning ball and the ruthless bouncer. I want my captain to also think of CLR's Beyond a Boundary. I want my captain to think of the middle passage and the plantation and Martin Carter's nigger yard. I want my captain to internalize that he is of the seed of George the Atlas, Learie the flamboyant, Garry the greatest, Frank the Moses, Clive the Super-cat, Vivi the Garveyite Smoking Joe, Michael and Andy, Malcolm and Gordon and Brian of recent vintage. Those brothers not only owned the public space; they transformed it and controlled it. The changed the way the game was played and in the process democratized  it. They conquered the world and put out Caribbean civilization in the global consciousness.

I want my captain to understand that what he does on the cricket field has a direct effect on whether we disintegrate into hapless and helpless little islands in David Rudder's "world that don't need islands no more" or remain a Caribbean civilization -- small but resilient.

I want my captain to articulate our dreams and hopes as a Black and Brown people navigating a world that is anything but Black and Brown in terms of its conceptualization of power. I want my captain to take our history and figuratively and concretely fling it in the face of the present world order. I want my captain to, like Ambrose, get pumped up when they ask him to remove the Black Nationalist symbol from his wrist. I want my captain to wear his braids on the cricket field but also to understand the significance of braids in a public space.

Many scribes, including some Australians, called for the return of the full strength team. Well they got it - in all its glory. Three days after the first all was bowled the verdict became he verdict became pellucidly clear. Interestingly, but not surprising, the examples of purpose came from the so-called "lesser lights." It is not difficult to spot the players in the team with any sense of their mission because they are few. Adrian Barath has made a promising start but he will soon be consumed by a false sense of himself if he continues to play under the present leadership.

The WICB and its selectors are a sorry set. They continue to behave as though this bunch of cricketers is superlative when any keen schoolboy can tell them that they lack the commitment needed to perform at the highest level of the game. I continue to argue that only Chanderpaul would have been an automatic selection to the all conquering West Indies team of the 1970-90s. It is time to bite the bullet.

There are two choices - a half-way compromise and a drastic overhaul. The latter scenario entails a brand new team devoid of the Gaye cabal and led by a committed captain who not only understands cricket on the field of play but even more importantly beyond the boundary. There are a few potential candidates around to begin this process. The other option, which I prefer, is to keep the Gayle cabal in the team but let them play under new leadership.

 

* David Hinds lectures in Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies at Arizona State University in the USA. More of his writings can be found on GuyanaCaribbeanPolitics.com.