Windies Captaincy Coup Looming?

Tony Cozier hints at a captaincy coup as he chronicles the rise and fall of successive West Indies captains, starting 14 long years ago when Viv Richards retired. Successive victims have included Richie Richardson, Brian Lara (twice), Jimmy Adams and Carl Hooper.

Cozier suspects that Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be the latest man to either fall, or be pushed onto, his sword as his players resist his leadership.

He says all the signs are there ? indifference, indiscipline and inconsistency ? and even draws parallels with John Goddard's credibility issues back in the early 1950s.

It's become clear that all's not well in Barbados. Just a day after details from Tony Marshall's address on the way forward for the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) and the finer points of the structure for competition in 2006 were published in the Barbados Nation, ex-player and former national under-19 coach Darnley Boxhill has gone to the press claiming that the concept is actually his!

Haydn Gill spells out Boxhill's claim that he proposed exactly the same competition format for the Barbados domestic season six years ago and is asking that Marshall and the BCA acknowledge his intellectual property.

Marshall was President when the initial proposal was submitted in 1999, and when contacted by the Nation replied with "no comment."

In the Jamaica Observer, a CMC piece reports that Chanderpaul is backing Brian Lara to come good in the second Test against Australia starting on Thursday in Hobart, saying that the world record holder is not struggling, although we know that recent showings suggest quite the opposite.

The skipper goes on to say that the West Indies will be targeting the inexperienced members of the Aussie squad, who are expected to be Brad Hodge and Andrew Symonds.

On his players, Chanderpaul said, "They don't have as much experience as the other guys and will probably be a bit shaky in the beginning. Hopefully we can get it right come next game and sort these things out early."

Media Watch hopes for two things: 1) West Indies do a better job of targeting Hodge than they did last weekend; and 2) One day, a West Indies player will make a media statement that does not include the words "the guys."

If there were an award for stating the obvious, it would have to go to the Jamaica Gleaner's Tony Becca.

The latest instalment of his 'From the Boundary' column bears the headline "It?s got to start with the clubs," How is that for a little dose of Tuesday enlightenment?

Especially when the first line of the article says that once upon a time, West Indies were the best team in world cricket. Becca reflects on past greats and, in keeping with his headline, talks about the lack of grooming that should start at club level.

Two days out from a Test match the West Indies go into with their backs against the wall we expected there would be more circket news and views in the regional media, but this is all we could find. Perhaps it's all being saved for the eve...