Harper Farewell Marred by 'Disrespect'

Fri, Apr 11, '03

 

West Indies batsmen Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels have found themselves on the wrong side of the authorities after two separate incidents at last month's World Cup tournament and a scathing report from team manager Ricky Skerritt could have been part of the reason Gayle was axed from the first Test squad.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and chief selector Viv Richards have publicly made it known that Gayle's choice to play in the Double Wicket World Cup instead of the Carib Beer finals was among the reasons he was not chosen but, according to information reaching CaribbeanCricket.com, that is only partially true.

The Jamaican trio first raised the ire of Skerritt during a farewell ceremony for departing Coach Roger Harper in South Africa when they made some distasteful comments about Harper's three-year tenure.

"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. The players were identified as Gayle, Hinds and Samuels.

Sources say Skerritt was also at the receiving end of another round of "disrespectful comments" on the team's flight from South Africa to London when Gayle matter-of-factly told him it was his last flight as a team official.

Gayle told Skerritt in front of the entire team that he "would be replaced by someone from his own island" who was preferable. Gayle's comments were obviously driven by media reports that Jamaican administrator and WICB COO Michael Hall had been identified as Skerritt's replacement.

Hall was a finalist for the job but the board opted to retain Skerritt two weeks ago.

"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.

The first hint that there was trouble during the World Cup came when Harper warned that insularity had crept into the team.

Harper, who normally shies away from public controversy, made waves on his return to the Caribbean with an emotional statement that insularity was "creating monsters" among players.

"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," the ex-coach declared.

"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," he added.

Skerritt, too, warned that "negative attitudes" cropped up at the World Cup. In an exclusive interview, Skerritt told CaribbeanCricket.com that towards the end of the tournament, "we saw some negative attitudes unveiled in a few individuals which have given us cause for alarm." He declined to provide specifics.

Both Skerritt and Harper have detailed all the negativity and disrespectful attitudes in their post-World Cup reports submitted to the WICB.