When it was first announced that the WICB would undertake a
major restructuring in its organizational flowchart, there was
a palpable wave of excitement throughout the fan base.
Accountability was the new buzzword and rightly so.
Accountability, seminal to any efficiently run organization,
makes it possible to swiftly identify problem sources by simply
going down the chain of command. It seemed like no one, not even
the WICB directors could disagree that the organization needed a
good dose of accountability to come to grips with years of
failure.
West Indies' 36 years old stranglehold over England in the
Caribbean came to a convincing end last April when England beat
West Indies at Kensington Oval to go 3-0 up in the four match
series. In the fourth and final Test at Antigua, West Indies
repaired some of the psychological damage inflicted during a
demoralising series.
That series marked the point in which West Indies did not win a
single Test match in a series against England since 1969 when Ray
Illingworth's England side beat Garry Sobers' West Indies 2-0 in a
three match rubber.
On July 22, when the first Test between the West Indies and
England kicks off, 36-year-old wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs will be
playing in only his 64th Test for the West Indies. Compare that to
his close friend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who at age 30 would have
played 13 more test matches and you know that Ridley was a late
starter.
Thank goodness he was not a late NON-starter, else we would have
missed the displays we've been treated to; displays of grit,
determination and purposefulness that many say is lacking in the
many of the current players. Perhaps his family upbringing prepared
him for being the ultimate team man...
Teddy Griffith, president of West Indies Cricket Board,
announced a restructuring of the management, coaching and selection
practise of the West Indies Test and ODI teams as he delivered the
feature address at the TTCB's second annual charity dinner on
Friday night.
"Quite enough has been said and written about the performance on
the field over the last nine years since we lost the Sir Frank
Worrell Trophy here at home to Australia in 1995," he said. It is
heartening to hear the president or anybody on the board come out
publicly to express dissatisfaction with the management and the
structure of West Indies cricket.
For the West Indies to have any chance of being competitive in
England, the bowling has to show up.
Right now, based on everything we've seen and heard it looks
like it will be a long, hard, uphill battle, notwithstanding the
heavy defeat inflicted by the West Indies on England in the
recently concluded NatWest trophy.
