Misplaced Emphasis on W.I Captaincy

There is nothing more disappointing than the misplaced emphasis on the captaincy of the West Indies cricket team as the key to a cricket revival, while the higher echelons of the cricket administration seem to be getting away 'scot free' with high-level carelessness and out-dated handling of our beloved game.

Tony Cozier has rightly described the captaincy of the West Indies team as a "poisoned chalice," but at the same time he is saying to give it to young Sarwan. I find that quite puzzling indeed.

No amount of changes in captaincy will cure the problems that West Indian cricket is facing at the moment, and influential persons like the great Mikey Holding should not allow their obviously, not-too-warm relationship with Brian Lara, to blind them from seeing and pointing out the real issue.

This article should not be interpreted as a defence of Brian Lara, but an attempt to show where our real problem lies. Is the captaincy to be blamed for the fact that before a major tour to such a strong nation as South Africa, our cricketers are allowed to lie around for four months in the process of becoming fat and overweight? In contrast, people like Ntini were literally running back to the mark to bowl while at least one West Indian player got injured in each game.

Is the captaincy to be blamed for the sending of an over-aged player to an international youth cricket tournament a few years ago?

Is the captaincy to be blamed for terrible team-selection blunders like the failure to pick a specialist spinner on a spinner-friendly track in the first test against Bangladesh in St Lucia?

Or what about the fast-tracking of young Jermaine Lawson, who is now coming out of injury and action-adjustment processes, back into the team on a dead track. If he was good enough to play on the featherbed in St Lucia, why not in the last test in Jamaica where there is a more suitable wicket? What message does that send to Lawson who is clearly not ready for Test cricket, or to spinner Dave Mohammed and the other fit bowlers who participated and did well in the recent regional competition?

Is the captaincy to be blamed for the reactionary fast-tracking of Tino Best into the West Indies team during the last tour by the Australians? It was an embarrassment both to the young man and the Caribbean public. Hey, didn't anybody see him bowl before? Selectors, managers and coaches are supposed to be present at the games. He clearly needed sorting out.

Furthermore, is the captaincy to be blamed for the fact that after Best was dumped by the selectors, there was no help offered to him by the official structures of West Indian cricket, and he had to seek out and rely on the goodwill of an 'unqualified coach' called Mr Wayne Daniel? God bless his persistence and determination to succeed.

Or is the captaincy to be blamed for the pussy-footing of the local administrators who clearly have no vision of the foundational role they play in support of the overall regional efforts? Why was a seasoned player like former Jamaican captain Robert Samuels forced out of cricket because of the silly comments of 'experts' like Maurice Foster who on national TV concluded that the 32-year-old Samuels was too old and had no hope of playing for the West Indies again, therefore he should be dropped.

Maybe this kind of age-mania needs to be pointed out to the English administrators who seem to be too happy to have 39-year-old Carl Hooper playing alongside their young players. No wonder they are in a position to beat the pants of our team. (I predict a whitewash in the upcoming series in favour of England).

Is the captaincy to be blamed for the fact that the Guyanese administrators cannot see the wisdom of being in sync with the West Indian selectors and allow young Sarwan to be exposed to the leadership of the Guyanese team?

I can go on and on about the state of our cricket administration but I think that I have made my point. Those who are in a position to be heard need to stop making a scapegoat of the captaincy of the West Indian cricket team. That has been going on since the latter part of Richie Richardson's term when it was becoming clear that the ship was beginning to sink.

The administration of West Indian cricket sucks. It is highly incompetent and the performance of the team in the last decade or so reflects the lack of vision, wisdom and motivation that now exists at the regional board level, the selection panel, the local level and even at the school level. Jimmy Adams, Courtney Walsh, Carl Hooper and Brian Lara are not to be blamed for the present mess. They did their best under the prevailing conditions.

People like Tony Cozier, Mikey Holding, etc, can go ahead and whine about the good old Clive Lloyd days, but they might as well accept the fact that if the administration is not fixed, when it is Sarwan's turn to drink from the "poisoned chalice" they will be calling for his head sooner or later.

One scripture in the Bible says that every enterprise is built by wise planning; it is made strong through common sense; it prospers wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. It is pretty clear that these principles are not being utilized in the present administration of our cricket. I pray to God that somebody will take heed, otherwise, if this present situation persists, it will surely put a damper on the World Cup preparations and our cricket will surely go to the dogs for a long, long time.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, beware! As they say in Jamaica, cockroach no business in fowl fight!