Joel Garner, the former fast-bowling great who is now West Indies' team manager, feels players from the region have promise but don't work hard enough.
"We've always had promising players, we've always had attractive players, the problems we have is that, most of the players are identified, I don't think they work hard enough, and they fall away," Garner said, in a media interaction on Tuesday. "I think that if the players are prepared to work as hard as they need to work, they can get to the top of world cricket as well."
When asked which areas the players might need to work harder on, he pointed to the lack of long innings and sizeable partnerships, which has been a problem for West Indies right through their ongoing Test series against India, apart from the final day of the drawn second Test in Jamaica.
"I think that the longer they spend in the middle, the easier the batting becomes," he said. "And I think that is one area that I'd like to see improve, where you'd like to see the fellows batting long, not only batting long but batting effectively.

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

I can agree with Garner's statement.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

...or the cricket coaches are not good enough.

Someone asked for Glen Mills to coach our cricketers...I am thinking seriously about it.

If only, he was not Jamaican.

In reply to Courtesy




were...




//

The cricketers do not work hard enough...and neither do the administrators, unless they are engaged in 'profiling' or self-aggrandizement!

When players fail, they are dropped. When the administrators fail they are re-elected, promoted or are rewarded with bonuses or generous emoluments.

I wonder why???

They don't have to consistently perform to be selected! A glimpse of talent or an average in the teens will earn them a place in the team.
So why should they work hard?

man! no one in the Caribbean works hard enough!


where does Garner works?

It is not a matter of working hard enough.
Who is coaching them to excel?
We do not have enough coaches with pedigree to coach. Also the system in the WI is set up as such that you the individual have to do all the work to bring out the ME in you.
Garner et al from that era except Haynes all plied their trade in England where they were exposed to the best coaches, best fields, best food, best conditions overall for the psyche of the game.
What do our kids have in the Caribbean?

If they do not excel at club level which is 4 th class at best then there is no hope.

Another jackass like Becca with all the answers. Unless you are single-minded and tunneled vision like Shiv, players will not develop in a vaccuum. First of all, like all human beings, players MUST be comfortable with their employer and work environment. This is the primary reason that players like or love the IPL.
Once that is in place then players will be willing to go above and beyond to make the sacrifices to make cricket their career. If there is no respect and no job security, we are fighting a losing battle. There is life beyond cricket. Players have families to maintain.
Many here who cricicise players should put themselves in their shoes.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

I disagree with the big bird. Why is T 20 only hampering Windies cricket? If batsmen are not staying long in the crease at FC level, how will they do long innings at test level?
Why are we finding it hard to take 20 wkts in a match. Bowlers too lazy?

Serious question: Can a cricket coach in Caribbean earn a living through full time cricket coaching?

'earn a living' = median pay cohort.

In reply to Real-cricket

Our cricketers work hard enough in T20 cricket....

WI cricketers put a lot more work off the field in preparation for that format than most T20 cricketers in other countries.

It's a matter of priorities....

shut unnuh skunts, Garner is right. our batsmen need to be able to build an innings, it is as simple as that.

Weren't these "new" crop of cricketers touted by the board, of which Garner is a senior executive, as much more articulate, more respectful, harder working, more committed, more educated etc than the so called prima donnas?

How can he say now they don't work hard? Plus....most of them from Cawmere so by default they're superior. Garner must be misquoted.

In reply to Ewart



and 'im nebba even seh tenks.

No courtesy nor broughtupcy.

In reply to imusic

nope just that you cant read and comprehend

In reply to imusic

Did you purposefully leave out the word "enough."?

Brilliant post!

Ahha!!!

In response to a question from her co-commentator ...why aren't Caribbean athletes doing the 800, considering they have excellent 400 meter runners?

Grace Jackson on ESPN responded "our Caribbean athletes don't put in the necessary mileage to compete in the 800 meters."

In short, she said while many take part in the 400 meters...the 800 meter preparation requires a lot more work.

Is she on to something here? Are Caribbean athletes lazy and not prepared to do the hard miles?

Do Caribbean athletes prefer 'fast food' competitions and therefore train accordingly?

Excellent coaching + hard work = greater chance of success.

In reply to Cleg

that is BS. Garner and his fellow Bajans of that era came thru the Bim 1st class system and were good before even playing in the English League. in fact that is why they were chosen. not much of our players get English contracts becos they dont attract that attention.

In reply to sudden


I have made this point before, Bim players as well as other islands were good and dominated the English counties, the first 2 guys that went to English counties were Keith Boyce n John Shepherd, they dominated in their first year.

Sobers echoed the same.
Sir Everton, Frankie ,Manny Martindale and many in the 50s played league which was a lower standard to the counties system, many guys played in the leagues on weekend and did extremely well including my dad

in reply to Sudden


In the 50 and 60 Empire, Spartan, Pickwick and Wanderers would have beaten many of the english counties and they did on tours to Bim.

In reply to jacksprat

It's attitudes like what you encouraging here that's creating the problems our players are exhibiting.

A lil story.

A friend of mine who would give his life for Dwayne Smith told me he was told the team was at uwi training hard. He got in his car and got there by 10 o'clock and saw no one. When he enquired he was told they are finished for the day!

Tennis players like Federer and Djokovic are known to train 7 hours a day! Wonder why they have been , no1 and make millions?

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

was this recently? cos the size of Dw Smith would suggest he needs to contact Powen for some training tips

In reply to sudden

Nah he not on the team now....this was a few years ago. The same sentiment seem to exist now. An hour of training is enough!

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Attitude like what?

Saying that West Indies cricket is shot through with people who do not put in an honest effort - from the players to the administrators?

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Garner need to stop wid de lotta long talk he does leggo, why he doan leggo talk when it come time to face J'ca Dave?...........

In reply to sudden

.

Yes,but did they get the support necessary to "improve and be consistent" in their game from Bim?

Passing your driving test dosn`t make you a good driver.

Cricket admin in the Caribbean leave a lot to be desired...just ask Hooper.

In reply to jacksprat

The administration does not take the field to compete against India etc

In reply to Cleg

Does the admin stop you from training and putting in the work required?

In reply to cherri

He is 6-10 , so whu he problem

In reply to cherri

for once i agree. he needs to slap DD cross he skinteet head

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

back in the day before contract, your uncle Billete batted for 5 hours daily 7 days a week.

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Does a team have to train a whole day or 6/7 hours for the training to be meaningful?.......I remember working cricket and most time the tourning team want to train in the morning, and before the cat lick he ears they back at the hotel.........there was one team in particular (not the west indies) that would leave to go and train, the leaving the hotel bout nineish and have catamaran cruises booked for midday...but johnsons would lik the west indies if dey doan train a whole frigging day.............keeping fit and training is the responsibility of the player, not the lil run bout the coaches these days does toss up.........

In reply to Runs

Shiv was chastised here for being selfish and ONLY playing for not out

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

No, it does not but it is responsible for the culture of incompetence and laziness that surrounds the team.

The rot that now engulfs West Indies cricket started at the top and has continued unchecked.

When the players fail to perform they are usually dropped (except if they are deemed to offer some unquantifiable "intangibles", apparent only to their godfathers & apologists!)

The team has been turned over several times, with the same result yet the same administrators continue virtually undisturbed for decades, as they grow fat and lazy.

It can not expect competence on the field when it doe not show it in the Boardroom.

Who lost his job in the wake of the Sabina park fiasco of a few years ago?

Who was held responsible when similar for black eye for West Indies cricket occurred at the Viv Richards stadium an another test was abandoned?

Did you hear of anyone at the WICB being sanctioned regarded that visa that had Deonarine, et al stuck in Jamaica for days?

In reply to jacksprat

So your boss is an idiot. Does that give you license to under perform? You are accountable to your boss and he can penalize your underperformance. You can't his; he's accountable elsewhere.

Players should take pride in their performance regardless.

I would love to brag I am the best batsman in the world; the most centuries etc

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy
I agree. Not because your boss is lazy, crooked, self destructive etc, means you need to be like them. I learned a long time ago that whatever you know/learn, no one can take it away from you so I try to be the best at what I do. I take pride in my job regardless of how my employer performs.
This does not mean the WICB get free ride but that is another conversation.

In reply to Moe99

Indeed

Posted at the time...To set the records straight:

The late issuance of visas to Fuda and Deonarine had absolutely nothing to do with the incompetence of the WICB.

The two players did their interviews for visas together with all other members of the West Indies team requiring visas.

The British Embassy in Jamaica told the WICB after the interviews that the two players would have to be investigated.

The reality is, no Embassy is obligated to giving reason(s) regarding the non-issuance, nature of the investigation or any evidence collected during the course of an investigation or the revocation of a visa to any government, organisation (WIPA) or individual.

This is the nature of the diplomatic world.

...been there done that.

WICB, the government, organisations, or an individual can jump high or jump low, they cannot force the hand of any embassy to issue visas or reveal any information regarding their investigation.

Neither will the British Embassy tell DEO or Fudda anything regarding any investigation or give them reason(s) for any non-issuance of visas.

BTW, it does not matter whether the WICB had applied one week earlier or a month for visas, if the embassy decides to investigate, that investigation will be deliberate and thorough and neither the WICB nor WIPA can influence the depth, duration and thoroughness of this investigation.

The fact that the cricketers were not granted visas immediately after their interviews should have set us thinking.

.................

BTW, didn't a Jamaican athlete have difficulty in obtaining a visas in time for the World Games in Beijing? Was the Jamaica Ass'n blamed for this?

The last time Caribbean peeps work hard was in the early to mid 19th Century!

That said, Garner's thesis seems to support the view that Caribbean people are lazy.

The late Motty Perkins use to cite a caller on his talk show thus:

Ms. Gloudon, Ms. Gloudon, one chiney can do ten summady wuk!

In the 21st Century, we talk about smart work, not hard work!

In reply to Courtesy
I don't remember all the details and time of the incident but didn't Deonarine had some issues with a girl in England? Don't remember if any charges were filed but could it be that was what the investigation was about?
Don't have any idea why Fudda would have been investigated.

In reply to Moe99

I would hate to speculate but if I were an embassy official looking at his photo I would investigate before granting a visas and I would not call it profiling but 'beard scared'.

In reply to XDFIX

they have no idea what it is to work.

In reply to Courtesy

tell that to your PM! he start giving US visas yet?

Is the bird not speaking from experience?
There is a vast difference between a team on tour, to players preparing for a season or tour.
Before a tour players will be working on various aspects of they're batting, bowling and fielding, which will take hours and hours of repetition, during a tour players will watch video and work on areas to counter what they saw on the video clips.
You cannot teach a guy to bat or bowl, during a tour, but you can spent hours after the tour, learning the craft.
That's what BB is talking about.
The best Wild receiver the NFL has ever seen, you tire other players out in the off season, with his regimental training, golfer spent hours and hours on chipping.
Sir Everton alway tease Seymour Nurse, saying he was the only cricket he know, that batted seven consecutive days, which resulted in 228 against Australia.

In reply to openning

Practice, train, practice, train, practice more and train more

In reply to sudden

I once saw Reon King during a lunch interval of a test match,,,with a tape measure, after bowling a number of no-balls.
His club and GCA coach should had been fired for embarrassing the guys.

Why did his local coaches not fix the problem

In reply to Courtesy

Nice spot on Grace Jackson.

She essentially says the same thing that Garner says and we are the best at the short sprint of cricket. T20.

Self evident that fact is yoda.

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

You fuget Shiv and his bowling machine? De great man she if you want to bat long in the middle you betta practice doing it....

In reply to Kay
A number of guys ave machine, Samueals used it to get ready after his ban, it then became a piece of furniture

In reply to cherri

Good Question

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
While I agree with Garner that our players need to work harder, we cannot blame it all on players. We need to look at the very bad job of our administrators and selectors, even more critically than the players. First of all, our selectors need to tell us why was Joseph dropped after one match, in which he took 3 wickets for 64 runs in 24 overs? In contrast, captain Jason Holder, after 16 matches has only taken 3 wickets once, and a total of 23 wkts. In fact so far after three matches captain Holder has ONLY taken 1wkt in his 86.2 overs. Can we see the root cause of our problem? Holder as captain, has significantly weakened the team because he cannot take wickets and batting at number 8 means he is NOT a front line batsman, yet he has a sure pick as captain

Since Jason Holder was made captain, his record is 0-6 in his 9 matches, with three draws. But the biggest problem is, after his 9 games as captain, he has ONLY taken a combined 5 wickets as our forefront bowler, while K Brathwaite, as a pat timer has taken more wickets, and new boy Chase, as a batting all rounder has already taken a 5 wicket haul. His bowling has so weakened us that with him as captain we have ONLY bowled out a team 3 times, while conceded scores of 500+ declared four times, 484, and 383. Holder does not merit his selection and that weakens our team significantly, while we have failed to develop bowlers like C. Brathwaite, A. Joseph, Beaton, D. Joseph and yes, S. Catterrell, one of the fastest left arm bowlers in the world.

In reply to sandisha

MY SENTIMENTS TOO