It's Time to Empower Logie

Back on March 31, when the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced its big housecleaning, a move that included the choice of Bennett King to take over from Roger Harper as head coach, president Wes Hall made a huge deal about Gus Logie understudying the more qualified Aussie.

It all sounded so good at the time. There was a long term plan, we were told, for Logie to work as King's deputy and assume the job in a few years time. It didn't matter that the position of assistant coach was never advertised or that the Harper-Dujon tandem had an ugly ending. A loyal West Indian man was being groomed and we applauded the board for finally getting something right.

Exactly one month later, Bennett King's name is a mere historical footnote and Logie has suddenly found himself the man in charge. Except, the power that the Australian would have demanded (and, likely, gotten) has not been given to the Trinidadian.

For starters, Logie is without a deputy. If the WICB found it so important to install a two-man tandem in charge of this young team under Bennett King, why not hire a deputy for Logie? Wes Hall, the smooth-talking reverend/politician who has a way of charming the pants off of Caribbean journalists, made it clear the "biggest and best coaches from around the world" had applied for the head coach job. Can't the third best candidate, presumably Eldine Baptiste, be hired immediately to come work with this inexperienced bowling attack?

Logie has been thrown to the wolves. If he didn't know, he's learning very quickly that the all-conquering Australians take no prisoners. Logie is going into a war with a bunch of young Carib Cup bullies who are clearly not yet ready. In this series alone, the West Indies have introduced five debutants. Going into the Barbados Test, down 0-2, the four bowlers chosen had a combined nine Tests between them, possibly the youngest bowling attack in the history of West Indies cricket.

Is Logie supposed to mould a Tino Best on the fly? Why is it so hard to bring Kenny Benjamin in from Antigua to work with the young pacers?

The Jamaican seamer David Bernard offers a classic example of what's wrong with the current structure. Bernard had an above-average Carib Beer season. He did enough with both bat (551 runs; 45.91 avg.) and ball (26 wickets at 23.03) to mark his name present. In Trinidad, he made his debut, displayed a nice upright seam and looked like someone who could shore up the lower order with a very straight bat.

But, under this structure, his debut performance was considered sub-par and he was promptly dropped. Next year, who knows what will become of Bernard? Is it realistic to expect Logie to identify the little kinks in Bernard's game and offer specialised coaching in the middle of a tour? WOuldn't a Kenny Benjamin or an Eldine Baptiste (yes, I think either of these should be hired immediately) be better equipped to figure out why Bernard was so ineffective on the same wicket on which Lee and Bichel excelled?

I'm willing to wager that Bennett King would have been given anything and everything he requested from the WICB once he took over as head coach. Shouldn't Logie be equally empowered with everything at his disposal to make the West Indies a professional unit again?

Wes Hall is at his most glib when he talks about 'superstars under construction' and the West Indies 'turning the corner'. But he is fooling himself and those around him who buy into the hype. There is no corner to turn if our head coach has to shop for the groceries, cook the meal and wash the dishes. There is no superstar to construct if Tino Best, with all his enthusiasm, struggles badly on debut and there is no one to pull him aside and pass on first-hand knowledge about the rigours of Test cricket.

There are bigger problems than just giving Logie an assistant. We still have players coming through the system with serious flaws and technical deficiencies. Tino Best has made an 'A' team tour under Logie and Garner. He totally dominated this year's regional tournament (39 wickets at 18.25 per) but if you look at his 'flingabout' bowling action as he nears the popping crease, you wonder why that hasn't been corrected yet. He may actually add a few yards of pace to become the tearaway the selectors say they are looking for.

The names roll off the tongue. Devon Smith has owned regional bowling but has such poor front-foot placement that Brett Lee reduced him to a shell of a batsman in his first two Tests. It took Daren Ganga five years to prove he belongs at the highest level. Ronnie Sarwan is the vice captain and the team's brightest star and he still hasn't figured out when to put away the hook shot. Ditto Marlon Samuels who hasn't found an expansive drive he can't attempt. Both Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds, the team's most successful opening pair, have 'stuck-to-the-crease' disease. Up and down the line-up of 'superstars under construction', we see problems that need specialist attention.

Add the indiscipline issues that have escalated recently into the mix and we see why Logie is a sitting duck coach, waiting for the revolving door to swing.

Logie has been a loyal soldier. When the board forced him, against his wishes, to go work for the backward Canadians at the World Cup, he went along for that bumpy ride, a journey that ended with caustic comments from the Canada team captain. Logie did not deserve that and he surely doesn't deserve the system he now has to deal with.

As he tries to squeeze the water from a stone with these kids, Logie must be empowered. It starts with an assistant coach but it doesn't end there. If the board was going to open the well for Bennett King, Logie deserves the same and even more. Give the man the tools. Give him everything he needs. Then, leave him alone to do his job.