Teddy's Plans on Right Track

(Trinidad Guardian)

Teddy Griffith, president of West Indies Cricket Board, announced a restructuring of the management, coaching and selection practise of the West Indies Test and ODI teams as he delivered the feature address at the TTCB's second annual charity dinner on Friday night.

"Quite enough has been said and written about the performance on the field over the last nine years since we lost the Sir Frank Worrell Trophy here at home to Australia in 1995," he said. It is heartening to hear the president or anybody on the board come out publicly to express dissatisfaction with the management and the structure of West Indies cricket.

All the West Indies has been in agony over the consistent inconsistency and poor performance of the teams. All have suggested ways and means of arresting the decline. The WICB, though, had remained silent and seemed incapable of dealing with the problems posed by the situation.

Griffith revealed that there will be a restructuring of the management, a redefining of the responsibility of the coach and a new format for the regional first class and Limited Overs competition.

Since the loss of opportunity for West Indies players to be involved in the English County Cricket competition, it has been apparent that West Indies players do not have sufficient first class cricket in the short season in the Caribbean.

The solution will be a season that begins in October and runs to March, with a short break for Christmas. A home and away series with a five day final between the leading teams, should see the players having a minimum of ten matches in teams including the current Test players, who have not played for their individual countries for many years.

The young players, in particular, will benefit immensely from playing alongside and against the best players in the region.

Another boon will be the players being match fit for the Test series and, in the event of injury or loss of form among the leading players, the reserves will all be match fit.

This should help in solving the current obvious inability of the West Indies players to be focused and to concentrate during a long day in the field or for a long stay at the crease.

The head coach will have added responsibility but, he will also have a greater say in the selection and preparation of his team for the Tests and ODIs. He will also have input in the strategy on the field.

With the captain, he will have a major say in the preparation of and selection of the team and the retention of his contract will depend largely on the success of the team.

We have all be for a long time dissatisfied with the teams selected by a panel that has no responsibility for the failure of the teams. Often, the captain or the coach and some players are sacked but the selection panels have always remained unscathed. That will now change as a more compact selection panel and process, more closely tied to the team and its performance, will be accountable for the success or failure of its creations.

In the recent past, there was dissatisfaction with the management of West Indies teams and one manager had his decisions countermanded by the intervention of a board member.

Now the duties and responsibility of the manager are clearly spelled out. He will be responsible for all administrative matters relating to the team and will ensure that the entire unit conforms to the policies of the WICB, including the code of conduct.

These should go some way to arrest the decline of the region's cricket. One area that still needs urgent and attention is the coaching and the mental development of the under 13 and 15 players.

The schools programmes also fall far short of what is required to prepare young men to make the step up from junior to senior cricket. As a result, and so often in recent times, the West Indies senior coach has had to try to instruct men coming into Test cricket in the basics of the game.

The leaders have at last indicated their awareness of a problem. They have made a start to addressing it and therein lies the hope that soon West Indies cricket will be back on the road to recovery.