Viv's Warning: 'Shape Up'

Mon, Oct 20, '03

West Indies chief selector Sir Viv Richards has issued a public warning to "some individuals" of the senior team to leave the bad behaviour and indiscipline behind.

"It's not probation, but we are looking very hard at some individuals, mannerisms, attitudes and, more than anything else, we would like them to commit themselves to scoring runs, all the runs necessary for us to be successful," Richards declared.

According to a report in the Barbados Nation, Richards warned that some members of the 16-man squad to Zimbabwe would be under "very close scrutiny." His remarks were made to members of the media in Jamaica just after the release of the squad.

While the chairman of selectors did not call names, it was clear his public admonition was aimed at those players who were a major distraction on the tour to India and at the World Cup earlier this year.

On the Indian tour, middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels was expelled for breaking curfew. That decision was later overturned by then West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall who insisted the expulsion "was not carried out because the penalty was not in keeping with the Disciplinary Guidelines."

Team manager Ricky Skerritt would later say that decision raised the perception that the WICB was attempting to "micro manage" the team from afar.

At the World Cup in South Africa that followed the tour of India, reports of indiscipline again surfaced. In an interview with CaribbeanCricket.com, Skerritt indicated that "negative attitudes (by) a few individuals (have) given us cause for alarm."

At a farewell ceremony for departing coach Roger Harper, some players made some distasteful comments about Harper's three-year tenure. The players were identified as Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels.

"During a farewell ceremony for the coach, the behaviour of two or three players suggested quite clearly that they were happy to see him go," one senior official disclosed. "None of it actually broke any team rules per se (because) players have the right to such opinions," the senior official explained, describing the outbursts as a "lack of tact" and arguing that the players were "burning bridges with the coach."

"At a farewell ceremony, you can at least show some appreciation for the effort that Roger had put out," he added.

On his return to the Caribbean, Harper warned that insularity had crept into the team and was "creating monsters" among players.

Harper, who is very careful about his public statements, declared: "I think that one of the things that we have to get rid of is insularity at all levels. Everyone wants West Indies to win but they all want their own people to play or whatever...Until we get rid of that, until we start thinking as one, until we have common ideals and common goals and stop filling our local territorial players with nonsense as I call it, then we are not going to get anywhere because we are creating monsters."

"What people expect is that we breed children for 20 years and what has not been instilled in them in those 20 years, they expect them to come into a West Indies team and in two months' time, the management will put it right and it is not going to happen," Harper added.