West Indies Cricket: In Desperation
Fri, Mar 20, '15
A pleasant 'March-Madness' Friday to you all.
I'm writing my little missive, well before Mr. Chris Gayle hits the winning run to power our West Indies to a semi-final World Cup berth. That will spare you the agony of agonizing about my invitation to your 'Chris Gayle' after-match party, at Club 333.
Folks, the 'will-he-or-won't-he' eleventh-hour agonizing over Mr. Chris Gayle's fitness, tells us a lot about the state and mindset of West Indies cricket. So desperate are we for a win, that the commanders-in-charge, are willing to sacrifice 'process', and the 'integrity-of-a-process', for expediency, and for a thrill. Folks, count me out. Keep your invitation to your after-match celebration.
I pity the reserve West Indies batsman, fit, ready, and rearing to go. And yet, he has to wait. Wait until we finish agonizing over the 'iffi-ness' of a batsman, who has not been fit enough to practise for the last two (2) days. I won't say that the honorable chairman of the selectors, and his fellow selectors, are men short on principle. What I will say though, is that they might be full - too full of desperation.
Notice who hit the winning run last night. It wasn't 'Boom-boom' Shahid Afridi. It was Shane Watson - banished to the wilderness to 'eat crow'; recalled; weathered the Wahab storm; and then in the end, 'ate steak'. Folks, count me out of this West Indies cricket 'March-Madness'.
Bulldoze the Academy
Mr. Chris Gayle first played a ODI for the West Indies on September 11th, 1999 in Toronto, Canada - sixteen (16) years ago. Since then, Mr. Gayle has gone on to play 267 more ODIs. He is now 35 years old and 180 days, has a bad back, can not take quick singles, can only field in the slips, and folks, we are still depending on Mr. Gayle to win a cricket match for us?
If I were like the little-man in the white-suit in James Bond - the one with the diamond ring on his pinky-finger, and stroking the little white puss, my first order to No. 2, would be to "bulldoze the West Indies cricket academy". Because, it ain't producing 'squat'. That 'supposed' cricket-pipeline is blocked, and needs to be dismantled.
If we are still depending on 'Crampy' (and what a name to suit his condition!), to win a 'do-or-die' match for us, then according to one former West Indies opening batsman, "we're in bad shape".
The Imperative
The only way we can get-out of the eye of the 'Gayle-like' storm we now find ourselves in, is to get hundreds of Caribbean boys and young men, playing domestic cricket. In every Caribbean territory, we need to make cricket as attractive to young boys, as the prospect of competing in 'Champs', is, to schoolchildren in Jamaica. 'Champs' in Jamaica, is not only attractive to prospective schoolchildren, but to big-business corporate sponsorship as well. The West Indies Cricket Board needs to embark on a massive and effective marketing campaign, to woe schoolboys to the sport of cricket. As it is now, the WICB pipeline is "pumping air".
As Barbados cricket goes
It's no longer the case, but years ago, there was a saying that, "As GM goes, so goes America". Effectively, Americans love their cars. And if cars aren't selling, then the American economy is in a rut. The same was once said about the state of Barbados cricket, as it relates to state of West Indies cricket. Speaking of which, two days ago, I saw in Barbados Today where one Mr. David Comissiong was, in Hope for Barbados cricket, lamenting the state of Barbados cricket.
Isn't Mr. Joel 'Big-Bird' Garner part of the 'high-command' of Barbados cricket? Why not he turn-around Barbados cricket first, and show the Caribbean that he can run something, before running to run West Indies cricket?
