Roger Harper and the Circling Vultures

There is an age old adage that is as true today as the day William
Shakespeare first spoke those words, and that is "Uneasy lies the head
that wears the crown."

Roger Harper, these days, must feel a bit like King Henry IV, because even
as the West Indies team was preparing for the upcoming series against India,
the vultures first in the forms of arguably the West Indies greatest
batsman, and most successful captain, Sir Viv Richards, and one of the West
Indies most sublime batsmen, and himself a former captain Alvin
Kallicharran, were weighing in with their not inconsiderable opinions on the
state of West Indies cricket, and the suitability to the task, of the
incumbent coach.

Not withstanding the fact that Viv Richards was the coach of record when the
West Indies Team with Brian Lara at the helm, was br /> href="http://www.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2000/JAN/
016820_PRESS_12JAN2000.html">whitewashed in New Zealand in 1999-2000, it
did not stop him from stating that he would welcome and most likely accept
the post of coach, if it was offered to him again.

All this, despite the fact that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has
stated that the coach of the senior team must possess coaching certificates,
and as I write this article, there is nothing indicating that Viv Richards
has made any effort towards obtaining any such coaching certificate. To his
credit Richards has stated that the real problem is that the West Indies is
experiencing a shortage of quality players but it is a shame that Richards
has not attempted to coach the even the Antiguan team, to show to the powers
that be, that he is at least serious about rebuilding West Indies cricket, a
task which must start at the grassroots level.

Now we have Alvin Kallicharran br /> href="http://www.caribbeancricket.com/article.php?sid=186">weighing in
on the as yet unannounced coaching sweepstakes. Kallicharran states, "The
West Indies Cricket Board in itself, they want people they can control. What
is Roger Harper doing being the coach of West Indies cricket? He was a
mediocre player - he didn't accomplish anything." In this one damaging
statement he has managed to impugn the integrity of the WICB, in intimating
that they only appoint people that they can control, and Roger Harper, in
stating that as a player he was mediocre and did not accomplish anything, as
if playing twenty five tests for the West Indies in their hey-day, and
having 46 wickets at an average of 28.06, with an economy rate of 2.14 per
over, and being known as arguably the greatest fieldsman in any position is
not an accomplishment in and of itself.

Kallicharran then goes on to state of Harper, "When he was playing, he
was always asking people for advice, how to coach him." Now, I may not be
entirely sure of how all of life works, but it makes sense to that at least
in the game of cricket, a young player, who Harper was when he broke into
the Test team, would seek advice from his more experienced teammates. That
is the hallmark of someone who wants to learn, and the players who are now
in Harper's charge would do well to emulate this trait.

Now in all actuality, it may be that both Kallicharran and Richards are both
eminently qualified to be coaches of the West Indies team. However, there
should be some modicum of respect and loyalty for a fellow player who went
into the trenches and did battle with them.

Granted, Harper did not represent the West Indies at the same time as did
Kallicharran (by the time of Harper's debut on the 83/84 tour of India,
Kallicharran had already sacrificed his West Indies career at the alter of
apartheid riches, which is another story altogether).

But, certainly Harper played for Guyana under Kallicharran in the West
Indies first class competitions, and thus deserves better than this. If
Kallicharran and Richards have a beef with the WICB, they should direct
their anger there. All we die-hard fans of West Indies cricket have heaped
our share of invective in that direction.

This worrying trend of ex-players lashing out at incumbents does nothing to
help the West Indies cricket team and organization through a difficult
period, admittedly the WICB has dropped the ball on many occasions, and the
less said about the Rousseau tenure the better. However, with a new
President in Wes Hall, an ex-player, we would hope that the lines of
communication would be more open and the cricketing knowledge of our former
greats would be better utilized to improve our standing in World Cricket.

Instead we are beginning to see these ex-cricketers criticizing the WICB and
its employees from afar; yet, many of these same critics do not seem to be
involved in helping to develop viable programs within their own territories.

Both Richards and Kallicharran need to be careful lest the exemplary careers
and intemperate ambition that they wield like double edged swords become
like King Henry IV "the majesty of Kingship dost pinch [the] bearer...
like a rich armor worn in the heat of day, That scald'st with safety."