The captaincy factor
Thu, Apr 26, '07
Despite his poor record as captain throughout three dispensations, the departure of Brian Lara has generated more debate about the future of West Indies cricket than perhaps any other single event in the history of the game in the region.Many cursed his captaincy, and would have been more than eager to see him go as leader of the team a long time ago. But at the same time, they would have admired his batsmanship, which was superior to all that played the game in his era.
In fact, as a supreme batsman, he has pretty much been the only reason for celebration among West Indian fans in recent years. And the fans will continue to discover ways in which they will miss him out in the middle for a long time to come.
The discussions about the future of West Indies cricket have inevitably hovered over the captaincy of the team, with the two most likely candidates being current vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and Darren Ganga.
In fact, there has been debate about the performance of every skipper ever since the departure of Clive Lloyd, as the records will show that, although Viv Richards never lost a test series, West Indies had started to lose its way in the one-day version of the game under his leadership.
That decline was further exacerbated in the form of a continued leadership crisis ever since Richie Richardson was appointed ahead of Desmond Haynes in 1991. All the captains from there onwards have simply become victims of the continued mismanagement of West Indies cricket.
With Sarwan being Lara’s deputy since 2003, he seems to be the automatic choice to carry the West Indies team forward. Sarwan himself has already indicated that he is ready for the responsibility.
But he would know better than to approach such a responsibility with any hint of over-enthusiasm, if given the job. If appointed, he will get the chance to follow in the footsteps of fellow Guyanese Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran, Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul as West Indies captains.
For his record, Sarwan has led the West Indies quite competently in at least four one-day internationals, and he has won three of them. But the name of Ganga has also surfaced, as he has led the West Indies ‘A’ team, as well as his home country Trinidad & Tobago.
Ganga himself, with the good cricket brain that he has demonstrated, would be disappointed that his batting record virtually ruins his contention for the captaincy. At the moment, he is not a member of the West Indies one-day team, and although he has had a good year in test matches in 2006, his averages in both forms of the game are in the 20s.
But with the West Indies becoming accustomed to struggling through their 50 overs, Ganga becomes a natural addition to the one-day team, especially given the continued exposure and exploitation of Chris Gayle’s lack of proper technique by opposing bowlers.
In fairness to Ganga, he has also demonstrated in the recent regional competition, as well as in the inaugural Stanford 20-20 tournament, that he is not averse to quick scoring either. But he would do well to further cement his place in test matches and to try to get into the one-day team as a priority rather than think about captaincy at this time.
Lara, for his part, seemed not to care too much about Sarwan being his vice captain, as his non-consultation with the right-handed middle order batsman on the field of play, or with anyone else for that matter, was plain for everyone to see.
In the first place, the appointment of Lara as captain for a third time was a clear indication that the West Indies Cricket Board, or should that be Ken Gordon, had no clue as to what was the way forward for the regional team in the days leading up to the World Cup and beyond.
Not that they seem to know much else about developing the game anyway.
But Lara alone certainly cannot be blamed for the present decline of West Indies cricket. That had started long before him, and the below par performances are likely to continue long after him, regardless of who is the captain.
Hence, to think of captaincy as a universal panacea for salvaging the regional team is a mistaken premonition.
And it is something that whoever is given the captaincy should be aware of, lest he becomes another victim just as the others before.