Viv Blows Perfect Opportunity

Ever since taking over as selection panel chairman, Viv Richards has spent a lot of time publicly demanding a high level of focus, discipline and commitment from his players.

This week, on the heels of the most shameful loss in the 75-year history of West Indies cricket, Richards was presented with a golden opportunity to put his stamp on the team's direction. Uncharacteristically, he blew it.

Can someone explain why Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle are in the squad for the second Test? And why, after manager Ricky Skerritt's livid apology which included the words "disgusted," "thoughtlessness," "shamelessness" and "horrific," we are yet to hear of any sanctions against any of the four players who inexplicably chose to visit a 'party' stand while shell-shocked fans around the world were reduced to tears.

"A report was forwarded yesterday to the West Indies Cricket Board with 'appropriate' recommendations. I await their advice on the matter," Skerritt told me in an e-mail exchange. That suggests the buck has been passed to the WICB, swept under the rug, never to see daylight again.

Which brings me back to the selection panel. What better way to deliver a zero-tolerance message than to drop the vice captain and senior opener? In the absence of a code of conduct for off-field activities (that's another story for another day), the selectors had only one option -- drop them both for the Trinidad Test.

There is no rulebook or players' association agreement covering who the selectors should or should not pick to represent the West Indies. That remains the prerogative of the selectors. The opportunity was there for the selectors to give Sarwan a plane ticket to Guyana to watch the second Test on TV and replay his lapse in judgment for a few days.

Before now, Sarwan has been a model cricketer. But, as vice captain of the West Indies team, he has a responsibility to exhibit leadership and set a better example for the likes of Adam Sanford and Tino Best, the two junior players who also visited the Mound after the shocking loss.

Under no circumstances should Sarwan, the captain-in-waiting, be seen in a party stand. I don't care who he went over there to chat with. I don't care if he was seeking comfort in the company of friends, that's not the place to be seen while fans were wiping tears from their eyes. By dropping Sarwan for the Trinidad Test, the selectors would have shown some tough love and proved to us all they were willing to make tough decisions to rescue the game in the region. It doesn't matter who you are, you must toe the line and display leadership, on and off the field.

Which brings me to Chris Gayle, the other senior member of the side who clearly did not learn from his previous lapse in judgment. Gayle, who was dropped last year for the first two Tests of the Australia series after choosing money over country, should have known better. And, let's face it, it's not like Gayle (or Sarwan for that matter) is indispensable to the Test side. The West Indies has played without them both over the last year and would have to do it again if injury strikes.

If Jackie Hendricks or Chetty Singh dare whine (as they usually do), all Richards had to do was look them both in the eye, squint for effect, and tell them both to go to hell. Or, on a better day, he could simply point Hendricks to his own comments in the minutes of the cricket committee meeting, where he (Hendricks) advocated a tough stance against wayward players.

When I saw the team for the second Test, my heart sank. I still can't believe Richards and company blew such a golden opportunity. Where Sarwan was picked, I would have inserted Dwayne Bravo. Kurt Wilkinson for Gayle was not such a tough choice to make.

I'm not here to pile it on Sarwan and Gayle but team selection is really the only way we could get some action without political interference. In reality, the entire post-match episode reeked. Poor leadership all around from the likes of head coach Gus Logie and manager Ricky Skerritt. If the team was truly apologetic, a team meeting should have been summoned at the fall of the last wicket and all 13 players should have been sent to the press conference to show contrition as a unit.

Logie, as we have come to realise, it out of his depth as head coach. He applied for the job knowing that selecting the team was part of the package. After he was hired, he begged out. His manager and captain were given video intelligence on South Africa and he didn't even know. The team's fortunes continue to spiral down the drain and insists on doing things "our way." Logie is a lost cause and the sooner he is replaced the better.

But that's a mission for the politicians in the WICB. For now, all we have to depend on is Viv Richards and his selection panel. They do a brilliant job of talking the talk about the need for discipline. When the time came for him to walk the walk, Viv tripped and fell. And there's no one there to pick him, and us, up.

* Ryan Patrick is editor-in-chief of CaribbeanCricket.com.