One would have thought that after the internationally publicised
Jermaine Lawson issue that regional territorial cricket board would
have been cautious and circumspect with regard to players having
suspect actions.
From the evidence at hand, this is not so for the Guyana Cricket
Board (GCB). For anyone who has seen Guyana compete in this year's
Carib Beer Series, it is as plain as day that pacer Rayon Griffith
is operating outside the laws of the game. It was particularly poor
in the two games that the young man played in his homeland.
Like a mangy old dog, the West Indies team management can bark
all it wants, but everyone knows it has no teeth.
Marlon Samuels knows this -- the dog once barked at him but it
got kicked and had to shut up. The fact is, since the departure of
Pat Rosseau, no one at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has had
any teeth at all. Everyone seems so intent on doing everyone else's
job that no one can do anything.
Lester Armoogam's heart was always in West Indies cricket. But
no more.
Arguably, the most fervent support of the West Indies team,
Armoogan, 63, known to fans and players as "Uncle Les," died around
six o'clock on Saturday evening at the Sugimed medical centre in
San Fernando from heart failure.
With the recent test series versus South Africa completed, it is
clearer than before that the West Indies bowling attack is
toothless. A quick review of the series shows a bowling attack
which has conceded almost 3,000 runs at a whopping average of 750
runs per match and never taking all 10 wickets in an inning.
Irrespective of the bowling conditions, the bowlers conspired to
concede 300-plus runs on the first day of an inning. The above
statistics should be cause for great concern amongst the WI
administrators and fans alike. For if you cannot take 20 wickets in
match how can you expect to win?
The recent spate of injuries that hit the West Indies cricket
team has once again raised the ire of the West Indian cricketing
public as to what more can go wrong with our team. The poor fitness
levels, the lack of professionalism and the lack of a culture of
fitness among the players were among the questions raised regarding
this problem.
However, we must address the issue of conditioning and/or
reconditioning protocols for our cricketers in a manner that would
enable the West Indies to field its best team and keep injuries to
a minimum. This will be a three part series to present a system of
corrective and performance exercise, nutrition and lifestyle
coaching that has been successful in returning athletes from injury
to personal bests in performance and conditioning athletes to
improved performance. This system is multi-disciplinary and was
developed by Paul Chek, founder of the CHEK Institute.
