Wes Hall Was Right

Reverend Wes Hall, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, is under fire from a number of cricket fans around the region for stepping in and stopping the management of the West Indies team from sending batsman Marlon Samuels home.

The 21-year-old Samuels was issued marching orders for breaking curfew, following Hall's intervention the order was withdrawn, and the talk in some quarters is that the president is condoning indiscipline. That, however, is far from the truth.

The truth is that the president had to intervene, by intervening, he prevented what would have been an injustice and the Board from being embarrassed, he probably rescued a young man's career and instead of being chastised, he should be congratulated.

According to the report to the Board, Samuels was seen in the hotel lobby and then by the pool after curfew, and although that was wrong, it was not enough to send him home.

Apart from the fact that the punishment should match the offence, it was a first offence, and based on the code of conduct, the punishment for a first offence is 15 per cent of pay - not expulsion.

On top of that, the tour management has no authority to send home a player. The system is that in a matter as serious as the sending home of player, the management recommends and the Board decides.

In deciding to send Samuels home, therefore, the management made two mistakes, and the president had every right to step in.

The first mistake was that the offence did not warrant such punishment. The second is that the team management acted without consulting the Board.

What is really interesting, however, is that the decision to send Samuels home may not have had anything to do with breaking curfew.

Breaking curfew is nothing new in West Indies cricket, it has been going on for a long, long time and no one has ever been sent home for that. In fact, if players were being sent home for breaking curfew, the West Indies would have had a problem fielding a team over the years - or one with their star players.

Based on what is being said, it seems as if there were other reasons, and although it was only once, breaking the curfew was a good excuse.

It is understood that after the intervention of the president the reasons given why Samuels should be sent home included these: he is too laid back, he seems to believe that being selected is enough and that he needs a wake-up call.

That may well be so, but even if that is so and although it is no excuse, he certainly is not the only West Indies player guilty of such an attitude.

Samuels was wrong to break the curfew, but he did not deserve to be sent home for that, those who decided to send him home had no authority to do so, and Wes Hall did not condone indiscipline.

By stepping in after consulting with his executive committee and the Board's lawyer, Hall did the right thing.

As one who has played the game at the highest level, he knows what can happen on tour; as one who has served as manager of West Indies teams he knows that there are different levels of indiscipline and how to deal with each one; and as the head of West Indies cricket he has a duty to lead and to protect West Indies cricket.

Apart from ensuring that his management team followed the rules, Samuels needed protection, Hall made sure he got it, and that was only fair.

The youngster, it is understood, also asked for forgiveness and as a man of God, Hall had to oblige.

* SOURCE: Jamaica Gleaner.