Will The Downward Spiral Ever End?

Will the downward spiral ever end? Just when you believe that all that can be bad in Caribbean cricket has been exposed and the way forward may begin, something even more unsatisfactory is revealed.

Not for the first time has an allegation of sex scandal been placed at the doorstep of West Indies cricketers.

Ever since the beginning of international sport there have been allegations of young men chasing women. While not condoning any indiscretions by West Indies players, it was with some concern that it must be noted that I have never heard of anybody complaining about the English or Australian or Indian players chasing women in the Caribbean. Do you believe that they never did and often indiscriminately?

But the Windies chasing those willing Aussie Sheilas! That must not be countenanced.

Added to this, the new sponsors have made what appears to be, at least, an exaggerated assessment of the West Indies Players Association. They have labelled that a ?terrorist group.?

Not too shy to lay blame, Digicel?s representative said he felt alienated by the players and that he was ?treated with a lot of hostility by certain members of the team, including captain Brian Lara.?

He repeated his allegation of hostility by the C&W players and said that he had never experienced such reluctance to work on behalf of a sponsor. He said he was ?deeply concerned about the length of the road Digicel needs to travel to begin to gain benefit from their $US20 million investment.?

He continued denigrating the players as lacking sponsor/media savvy and that they were motivated purely by money. He overlooks his own concern with the distance Digicel has to travel to make good on its investment.

One wonders at the lack of concern and business sense shown by both the WICB and by Digicel when they agreed to a sponsorship deal, knowing that several of the players had existing contracts with another company, Cable & Wireless - a competitor of Digicel.

This led to the impasse between the West Indies Players Association and the WICB prior to the camp and to the delay in naming the team and captain until just four days before they were scheduled to leave for Australia. Hardly the ideal start for such an undertaking!

It took the intervention and the concilliatory skills of Keith Mitchell and a respected Supreme Court judge, to convince the WICB and Digicel that dropping four of the region?s premier players was not the solution to their problem. They succeeded, however, in getting Sarwan removed as vice-captain.

Rather than working to resolve the difficult state of affairs, the Digicel crew sought to drive wedges between players on the team and wonders at the less than perfect performance of the team.

Rather than seeking to win the allegiance of Lara and the C&W contracted players, they took a highhanded approach, demanding the dropping of four of the best players and combined that with what looked to be the line of least resistance.

They knew there as a situation to be cleared up but, while there was obvious lack of unanimity among the members of the team, Digicel sought to target the most likely and uncertain players to get their co-operation, only to complain afterwards that those players were ostracised by the team. That players were ostracised by the team surely says something of the failure of the WICB and of Digicel to go about the signing of a contract that had such negative effect on the team.

There can be no denial that great harm has been done to the relationships between the WICB and its players, between the players and their sponsor and that a climate of distrust and even antagonism exists among the WICB, WIPA, Digicel and the individual players.

Much needs to be done to settle the lack of trust and of open antagonism that now exist between those bodies. It must be done or the future of West Indies cricket will be in the most dire straits.

It must be done with some urgency, as this comes at a time when the standard and the drawing power - internationally and internally - of the region?s team is at its lowest ever.

What is needed is a training regime for all West Indian cricketers, from as early as 12 years old, at which they will be expected to master the basics in inter-personal relationships, good manners, some history of West Indies cricket, the ability to interface with the media and important connections (like sponsors).

The ability to master these skills are almost as important as cricket technique and can make the difference between a boorish talent and an ambassador of West Indies cricket, like Wes Hall, Gary Sobers, Mike Holding and many of the former great West Indies players.

* This article appears by special arrangement with the Trinidad Guardian.