PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Former chairman of Caricom’s Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket, Dr Keith Rowley says he is strongly against Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) decision to appoint West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy as the chief selector.
While making it clear that he was not speaking on behalf of Caricom, the former prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago said he saw no benefits in one man being chief cook and bottle-washer.
Sammy, 41, was appointed all-format head coach of the West Indies team in April, after taking over the Test team from Andre Coley.
“I used to be in a Cabinet with Patrick Manning and there were times we’d have serious decisions to make and, initially, you’d look to the prime minister to make a decision whereas he is ultimately responsible for the Government,” Dr Rowley recalled while speaking during a recent interview on Isports on i95.5 FM.
THEY’RE ON call as supporting columns for West Indies cricket – much in the same way they were also bolstered by greats when they were up-and-comers – so, as far as they’re concerned, legends Ambassador Courtney Walsh and Sir Curtly Ambrose are convinced that recurring workshops, like those they conducted recently at the WI Cricket Academy, are required for structured development.
Stalwarts were always within reach during their time. One’s mettle was therefore always moulded by mentors – now the legendary duo believe this is a missing piece of West Indies cricket development.
“We simply have to find a way to get more senior players involved as is done elsewhere where most of the former players work through the ranks of various Academies,” said Walsh.
For validation, he recounted his experience (which he says he will never forget) when the likes of the larger-than-life Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, and Clyde Walcott were all part of the training camp of the West Indies Under-19 team that toured England in 1982.
FORMER PRIME Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley, has refuted claims by Cricket West Indies (CWI) president, Dr Kishore Shallow, that CARICOM governments were not doing enough to assist in the development of cricket in the region.
In fact, Dr Rowley, who also served as chairman of CARICOM’s Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket during his time in office, said he was shocked to hear such accusations from Dr Shallow.
In a previous interview on WESN Tv’s Face of Sports programme, Dr Shallow charged that infrastructure across the region needed to be improved, and there was a need for more emphasis to be placed on grassroots cricket programmes, along with school and club cricket.
He contended it was a misconception that it was the responsibility of CWI or the territorial boards to address those issues.
Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, is calling on the current Cricket West Indies administration to offer up a posthumous apology to former West Indies fast bowler, Roy Gilchrist.
Gilchrist, or “Gilly” as he was called, played 13 Tests for the West Indies from 1957-1959, building a reputation as one of the fastest and most feared bowlers in the world during his time.
He played his last game for the West Indies at just 24 years old against India in February, 1959 and, because of a number of unfortunate factors that were a prominent feature of that time period both in the region and around the world.
Beckles, who is also the Principal of UWI's Cave Hill Campus, was speaking at the launch of his book titled Cricket’s First Revolutionary: Frank Worrell’s Political War Against Colonialism in the West Indies on Thursday at Sabina Park.
“Frank Worrell’s journey was to demonstrate that all West Indians, if treated equally, selected on the basis of merit and appropriately guided, could dominate the world. That was his philosophy,” Beckles said.
Even as he called an emergency summit on the state of West Indies cricket after Monday’s shame at Sabina Park, Kishore Shallow didn’t grasp the depth of the crisis facing the regional game, and a critical part of the solution thereto: the issue of governance
So, while Dr Shallow’s invitation to the West Indian legends, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards and Brian Lara, to be members of panel analysing Monday’s batting debacle may be sincere and produce some results, there was a callowness to his effort to assuage and comfort regional fans.
Being bowled out by Australia in their second innings for a measly 27 – the second lowest total in the history of Test cricket – wasn’t an overly shocking aberration to be easily gotten over by West Indian supporters, as they rallied around the team. But for a few deceitful positive blips along the way, as most fans know well, West Indies cricket has been in continuous decline for three decades. And there is no certainty that Monday’s new low represented rock bottom.
Which is why many people will entertain with scepticism, and perhaps cynicism, Dr Shallow’s implied argument that West Indies cricket is on a defined path to rehabilitation, and that in the midst of their disappointment the team’s supporters should hold strain.
