It Figures to Get Worse...

In recent years, West Indies fans have had the consolation of home victories over all comers, except Australia and South Africa. Then England changed that with a devastating near whitewash, and now Pakistan threatens the same. The ODI whitewash is already in the bag for Pakistan, and a Test series win seems a mere formality.

"How has it come to this?", asks West Indian fans. "Weren't we turning the corner? Our batsmen still bat cavalier style and our fast bowlers still bowl fast ... just like they did under Lloyd. Why then are the results different?"

Most fans believe that the right team just isn't being selected. "Just forget the insularity and favoritism and pick that magic combination and all will be well", they reason! Or, replace the entire West Indies cricket administration and success is bound to follow! "Lara is the cause!", others say, "He makes the others underperform!". Yet others cry "Indiscipline! Indiscipline! It's killing West Indies cricket!"

Speculation, all of that, but a couple of things are certain.

1. West Indies can no longer compete equally with the top and middle tiers of world cricket - Test or ODI.

2. Nothing has been able to check the decline of West Indies team cricket since the end of Viv Richards' captaincy.

The latter point is especially worrying, as it implies that the decline will simply continue until the West Indies is no longer fit for Test cricket. Some fans already believe that time is as close as 2007, the year in which the West Indies ironically hosts the World Cup.

But, why the decline? Or, maybe the right question is "What brought past success?" Many believe that it was the West Indian style, dubbed "Calypso cricket". Others say it was the beautiful tropical weather and idyllic island life, where men cared only for life on the beach and their cricket! Trouble is, these things haven't changed much, if at all. So then, why the decline?

It is indicative that most of the current infrastructure, including Test, first class and club facilities, were built in colonial times. In fact, some of the old infrastructure has collapsed and was never replaced.

Caribbean governments, which benefit tremendously from tourist money brought in by cricket, lend no financial support to the game. There is no official recognition of cricket's economic and social contribution to Caribbean life, and no government or private attempt to systematically integrate the game into national or regional economies. In fact, most schools in the region no longer allow school cricket during regular school hours, or time off from classes to watch international matches.

It is also indicative that almost all internationally successful Caribbean sportsmen have had to work from foreign bases. Jamaican international track stars train in American colleges and Guyanese world-rated boxers train in American gyms, to name a few.

The very same can be said about past great West Indian cricketers. They were transformed from dazzling but unreliable calypso cricketers into ultra-reliable professionals in English league and county cricket, until the English cricket administration caught on and virtually ended the flow of West Indian professionals into England.

Nothing in the West Indies has been able to replace rich training grounds of English cricket. West Indies first class cricket is a battle for first innings points, with unpaid participants who can do no worse than lose their places in the team. There are no contracts, money or even bonus points to worry about.

Matches more often than not peter out into boring draws after first innings points have been decided, after which players merely going through the motions if the prospect of an outright win seems remote. No wonder the West Indies Test team falls apart so often in its second innings and have so much fitness and concentration problems in world class competition.

Commercial motivation, such as team or individual sponsorship, is virtually non-existent. Competition sponsors underwrite competitions and gain incidental advertising in return, by way of match reports in the news. Live TV and radio coverage are a rarity.

The administrative structure of West Indies cricket is as framented as the region's geography. The West Indies Cricket Board has virtually no authority over the regional boards, which in turn have no authority over local boards. The West Indies Cricket Board, or even the Guyana Cricket Board, for example, have no authority whatsoever over the practices of the Berbice Cricket Board (Berbice is a county in Guyana.)

Thus, there is no uniformity in umpiring, disciplinary, selection and other practices, and no means of implementing or enforcing policies and practices deemed necessary by the higher boards. A need to improve outfielding or distribute training material, for example, can only be talked about by WICB officials. Or, a chucker in one territory would have no problems in another. Or, a club cricketer who feels wronged by his club has no higher body to appeal to.

Thus, West Indian cricketers are expected to prepare for world class competition in an environment that has never been suitable for the task - not for the athletes, boxers, or any other sporting discipline. Failure to match the best training facilities in the world and adopt the preparation practices of the successful teams, as Brazil had to in order to survive at the top of the soccer world, will ensure the continued decline of West Indies cricket.

The worst casualty of the decline, however, would be regional pride. At some point that could decline to such an extent that the very survival of the regional team would be threatened. Meanwhile, the WICB continues to shuffle around players ... looking for that magic combination ...