'Hilaire must apologise'

Tue, Jun 1, '10

 

The following is a statement issued by the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) in response to critical comments made by WICB chief executive Ernest Hilaire against West Indies cricketers:

Dr Ernest Hilaire’s statements made during the panel discussion at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies on the night of 25th May 2010 and reported  in the press thereafter are outrageous, disrespectful and revealing.
 
Dr Hilaire’s comment that the Windies team is the least educated of all the Test playing teams reveals a misunderstanding of the concept of education and of what it takes to be a successful cricketer.  We only need to cast our memories back to several of our most successful cricketers who may not have been “academic” in the conventional sense, but who were insightful and sharp thinkers and whose ability to understand and think on the theoretical dimension demanded by the game of cricket, earned them their place in the annals of cricket history.
 
Dr Hilaire’s words puts West Indian players at risk of disrespect both at home and abroad.  The world has been told that some West Indian players are uneducated, unable to  compete on the world stage effectively, mercenary and incapable of improvement.  Obviously all players need the support of their Board but this  CEO has certainly given the impression that the WICB may have  written off some of the region’s  players .
 
This has serious implications with the most immediate being that  the CEO of the Board has literally given to the opposition words of contempt to be uttered on and off the field as a psychological tool against the West Indies.  It is difficult to conceive of Dr Hilaire’s counterparts anywhere in the cricketing world acting in such a manner.
 
Equally shocking is the fact that the CEO of the WICB made such remarks in a public forum particularly in the middle of an international series.  Even the future players did not escape Dr Hilaire’s utterances as he stated that half of the Under 19 players could barely read or write. What he did not comment on were the findings as to the performance of West Indian junior teams including the Under 19s, which have been creditable, and why no solution has been found over the last 15 years to deal with the obvious problems these young cricketers encounter as they move from the junior to the senior level.  The WICB is charged with providing such a solution and has failed and continues to flounder in bridging the gap as these young cricketers try to go to the next level. Does Dr Hilaire know that the overall literacy level of Under 19 cricketers from other test playing countries is any different or is it that those cricket boards have done their jobs and crafted the environment for success for all of its players?  
 
Ironically Dr Hilaire’s words point to a failure of the very institution that employs him since it is the WICB who has the mandate to develop cricket (and by necessity cricketers)  in the region. If, as he says, an academy was needed for the last ten years, and the WICB has not created one ( despite the recommendation of  many including the Patterson report) the question which naturally arises is whether the Board has been doing its job. One need only remind oneself of the fact that since Dr Hilaire has assumed his position as CEO of the WICB that the number of first class matches has been reduced.  Both the scholar and the man in the street would agree that the way to improve is to play more, not less, cricket and that preparation and environment are of vital importance. There have been so many complaints about the glaring lack of professional cricket infrastructure and development of West Indies cricket to keep pace with the changes to the game in most of the other test-playing countries that to merely blame players reeks of abdication of their responsibility and could not be a sound argument. Players do not select themselves.
The best that could gleaned from Dr Hilaire’s comments is that he made a strong case for the restructuring of the WICB .
 
Finally, Dr Hilaire’s comments about West Indian society and its young members are totally misplaced.  There are young West Indian sportsmen and women who excel in their fields world-wide.  If this is not the case in cricket on a consistent basis, it says that the WICB has not been doing its job.  Outside of sport, young West Indians excel in their chosen fields and bring great credit to the region. Surely his fellow panelist (on Tuesday night at Cave Hill) and fellow Board member, as principal of the Cave Hill campus of UWI, can set him straight on that score.
 
WIPA calls on Dr. Hilaire and the WICB to apologise.  That is the very least that they can do.  Dr Hilaire has spoken and in so doing has highlighted serious deficiencies and shortcomings of the WICB.    
 
The ball is in the WICB’s and Dr Hilaire’s half, let’s see how they play it.  In any other responsible organization a CEO that publicly disparages the company’s product would have serious questions to answer from the Board and shareholders.