Q&A with Ezra Moseley

Quietly, without much fanfare, the junior West Indies selection panel has found success putting together a batch of regional youth players that are holding their own in international competitions.

What is the secret to this success? Why are our junior players finding it so hard to make the leap to the senior team? Has our first class competition become irrelevant. CaribbeanCricket.com roving correspondent Michelle McDonald sat down with junior selector Ezra Moseley to get some answers...

EM: I must say after watching the competition this year that the standard is not very high. We certainly have the talent here in the West Indies but when you look at the players, I don't think that they're working hard enough at their game. In order to move the standard to another level, I think somebody will have to let the players know they've really got to work harder.

Compare that with the days when you played. How is it different today?

When I played at the first class level, there were a lot of good players around who were very committed. Those guys practised hard, trained hard, they were always willing to listen to advice, but nowadays you get the impression that some of the young players, not all of them, are not prepared to listen to people who ware willing to give advice.

Has our first class season become irrelevant, especially in the light of recent West Indies selections?

No, not at all. I don't think the competition has become irrelevant because most of the players that you will see playing at the West Indies level, they are playing on performance. Every now and then, the selectors will pick someone who they think may have exhibited good potential.

You are involved in selection at the youth level. Tell us about the work that you and your panel do to find young talented players to groom for the future.

I have been a West Indies youth selector for the last four years and I think our term comes to an end sometime soon. What we do, we go around to every competition that is put on by the WICB, the U-19 and the U-15, and if there is no competition like the youth World Cup, at the end of every tournament we identify maybe 20 or 25 players and we give those names to WICB.

You were also Assistant Coach at the Shell Academy last year. What are your impressions of the batch that came through?

Last year I was the Academy for two weeks working with the fast bowlers and I must say that those players really listened. They were willing to work hard. (Dwight) Washington and (Andrew) Richardson, those two guys really did well at the Academy, and also Jason Bennett. Those guys really worked hard and it has paid off.

Richardson, he's got a lot of wickets in the Carib Beer. Washington was rewarded by being involved in the West Indies camp. He got into a final 16 and I think he was just a little bit unfortunate not to have made the final 13. He also got a game in the UWI Vice Chancellor's XI. He's continuing to work hard and I think he will serve West Indies cricket well because he is always willing to learn.

What are your thoughts about the coaching at the youth levels?

The coaching is pretty good but all the coaches must be reading from the same hymn sheet. I think once that happens we will see more players coming through.

But, we keep hearing that our players aren't being properly prepared...

I am not sure about how the other players around the territories are prepared but to speak for Barbados, they are prepared very well because they play a very competitive tournament called the Arawak Cement tournament just before the Carib Beer series. As Courtney Browne said earlier on in an interview, the Barbadians play cricket to win, they don't play to draw. It has been instilled in those players that they must go out there and win. Some people might say that winning is not all but I totally disagree with that. Winning is a habit and winning is a part of development.

Who are the youth players to watch?

There are a number of good youngsters out there and I can't think of all of them right now but I've got a few names that would come to mind: Martin Nurse, Dwayne Bravo, Xavier Marshall, Dwight Washington, Lendl Simmons, Jason Bennett, just to name a few. Xavier Marshall has just come back from the U-19 World Cup with very good performances.

There is also a fast bowler from the Windwards named Mervyn Matthews. He's a very good bowler. Obviously he needs to work a little bit on his action, but he has shown excellent control and he does a little bit with the ball. Once he works hard he could be a very good servant for the Windwards and, who knows, the West Indies.

What did you think about our performance at the U-19 World Cup?

I thought the performance in the World Cup was brilliant. I know before they went off, there were a few critics out there saying that the right team was not picked because maybe one or two players didn't get into the final squad. Those guys proved them wrong. They got to the final and I thought they should have won the final but they panicked a little bit.

Kudos must be given to them for playing well. The Manager from Trinidad, (Roland) Sampath and the Coach Clyde Butts must be given kudos also and I think nobody ever gives the junior selectors any credit but I would like to say thanks to Butts and Derrick Parry for picking a fairly good squad.

Which players in your opinion stood out as ones who could make the transition to the senior team?

I think all the players who played in that World Cup. You could say to them look, you've had the opportunity to play at the international level and you certainly have the potential. It is left up to them now to really work on their game and try and move from U-19 to the next level and make their national teams.

Xavier Marshall came back from the World Cup and he was picked in the Carib Beer XI. That sends a message to all those players that they should go out there and work on their games because they're not going to wake up one morning and find themselves in West Indies cricket just because they've played U-19 cricket. They've got to continue to work hard at their game and be disciplined.

There is always the fear that going into the senior team will spoil the vigour and enthusiasm with which the U-19 played at that tournament and that they will not get good examples to follow from the senior players. What is your feeling on that?

I think when a fellow moves from one level to the next, he's got to be very smart and when he goes to the next level, take what is good and leave what is bad and if a fellow hasn't got the brains to just do that, he will also struggle. But I think we've got some smart youngsters who are very hungry to play at the First Class level and at the International level and they will certainly take the good and leave the bad.

Take us back to the days when you played for the West Indies. Looking back now, would you say that there were elements of indiscipline in the team, and if so, how did this manifest itself?

There will be elements of indiscipline in every team, whether it's on the field or off the field. On the field, it might be a guy not disciplined enough to bowl the type of length and line that he is supposed to bowl and off the field we see guys getting into stuff that they shouldn't get into. When you look at the West Indies teams of old even if they were undisciplined off the field, when they walked out on to the field, they played as a unit.

Speaking hypothetically, if you were given a free hand and a mandate to turn around the fortunes of the West Indies team to improve our rankings by 2007, what would your immediate priorities be?

Listening to all that has been said, it would appear that there was no respect for the Manager and I think that those guys who are in charge of the various teams, managers and coaches, must be empowered a little bit more to carry out their jobs. There are certain other things that we should put in place. When you look at it, we went to Zimbabwe and South Africa and we took a bowling coach. It was quite obvious then that the people in charge thought that there was a need for a bowling coach on tour. I am not sure if they were just thinking that they need a bowling coach on tour, but the young fast bowlers in the squad now still need help.

I think that the bowling coach should become a permanent position in WI cricket. Some people might say that they would need funds to do that, but we've got to put all the necessary things in place to make our cricket stronger by 2007 and beyond.

About your days as a player, what did you enjoy most about representing the West Indies at the highest level?

I came back into the West Indies team after being banned for seven years for going to South Africa. It was a privilege to represent the West Indies. I came in at age 32 and I got a little stick, especially in Jamaica. Every time I walked on the field people were booing and jeering, but I thought that particular scenario made me a stronger person because at one stage I felt as though I didn't want to go on the field. I had to put all that behind me and I went out there and when I got the chance to play in the One Day game in Jamaica, I bowled my heart out.

When you went to apartheid South Africa, you were just 22 years old. If you knew then what you know now, would your decision have been any different?

I thought it might have been different but at that particular time I got the opportunity to go to South Africa and earn some money. Guys went there, they earned money but they also played very good cricket.

What did you do after leaving West Indies cricket and Glamorgan?

I played cricket in the leagues up in the north of England. Even before playing for West Indies I played for Littleborough for five years, then I went to Oldham and after that to Radcliffe.

In what way can you make the biggest contribution to improving West Indies cricket?

Since I've stopped playing cricket I've tried to get myself certified as a cricket coach because I enjoy coaching as well. Right now I am doing a little bit of coaching for the BCA in the U-19 squad. I started this season coaching the U-15 but then I was moved to U-19. I would really like to make a contribution to West Indies cricket at whatever level or whatever area I can. But at this moment I'm trying to get myself certified. Right now I'm a level two coach. I think we have up to Level 3 in the West Indies but I'm not sure when that course is going to be put on.