West Indies Cricket Comatose

"The fundamental factor driving the current reality is the shift in the mindset and focus of the young and emerging players in the region."

ONE of my colleagues said in a commentary last week that the West Indies Cricket Board is sleeping.

Upon hearing that pronouncement, I contacted him immediately, telling him it was worse.

It is not just that the board is sleeping; West Indies cricket itself is in a coma. This conversation took place even before the regional team bowed and slumped to another predictable and pathetic innings defeat in the first Test match on the current tour of Sri Lanka.

Blaming a sleeping WICB for the continuous deterioration of our cricket is an easy way out, within which lies a covert denial of the actual gravity of the situation.

Many Caribbean fans continue to profess unconditional support for the West Indies team. Again, an attitude buried in a deep-seated denial of the rapid whittling away of the West Indies team and the very institution of West Indies cricket as we once knew it.

The many clichÈd rants about returning to the glory days and turning the corner are basically 'pie in the sky' dreams based on emotionalism, blind loyalty, and patriotism without any semblance of appreciation for the reality.

While the administrators of the regional board provide an easy punching bag for the state of our cricket, my retort to that is that the competence of our administrators is in no way significantly worse today than it was in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

read the full article at Jamaica Gleaner

related article : Dr. Paul Wright; Woeful Windies