When the many excuses and desire to lay blame on this or that individual be he captain, selector or administrator, is put aside, the inescapable reality is the need for the West Indies cricket fraternity to come to the realisation that it is the mental weakness of the West Indian cricket team that has driven it to the bottom of Test cricket. Yesterday's umpteenth batting collapse is just the most recent example of the inability of the players, in this instance the batsmen, to perform under stress and pressure. If that home truth is acknowledged, the realisation would then dawn on all involved that the players of the present do not have the mental capacity to undergo the rigours of international cricket. That fact was well demonstrated in the two One Day International series played against Pakistan and India. In both instances, the West Indies could only mount the courage needed to triumph when the series had been won by the touring teams and when they both moved into a lower gear of performance, easing the foot of the gas; that facilitated the WI players to play without stress and so were able to realise something of their true potential.
Unfortunately, the commentators, the public and most others have been seeking over the couple decades now to find a Good Friday Bobolee to beat upon: first it was Richie Richardson; then it was Lara; then followed Adams, Hooper, Chanderpaul, Gayle; now Sammy. At times the selectors, Captain Peter Short and his successors on the "colonial minded board", and president after president, including WIPA President, Dinanath Ramnarine, the coaches from Marshall, Richards, through the Australians and soon enough, indeed Gibson has already been blamed by the likes of Gayle and Chanderpaul for the continuing failures. In the meantime, little thought and even less effort have been expended on developing a culture of excellence, which includes developing the nurturing and developmental environment which could put some steel in the back of players and have them acquire the mental toughness required to succeed in international sport. So far in the three tests played this season, only three West Indian batsmen have been able to get past 50 runs; anyone getting a century has never seemed a possibility, they simply have not displayed the discipline and mental ability required to get to a hundred.
The point is that in addition to the physical abilities and skills of sportsmen of every kind to play the game they are involved in, the mental apparatus separates the men from the boys. Having begun run chase aggressively, putting doubts in the minds of the Indian bowlers, Barath could not appreciate that he could not consistently over the long haul to 326 runs go after the bowlers. Sarwan seems to have lost it, so too Chanderpaul; Bravo looks pretty for 30 to 40 runs, his mind then wanders. The others do not seem to have a clue as to how to construct an innings beyond 30 boundary-studded runs. At Sabina yesterday the difference in approach and application of tail-enders Rampaul, Edwards and Bishoo, scoring 75 runs amongst them compared to those picked for batting, was illustrative of the inability of the batsmen to mentally apply themselves to the job to reach a very realisable winning score. Instead of the nauseating squabbles over fees paid per game, sponsorship contracts, one-upmanship and ego tripping, the WICB and the WIPA must spend the time on the restructuring and transformation needed.
Moreover, the painful reality is that the WICB has the Patterson report loaded with wonderful proposals to solve the fundamental problems of West Indian cricket; yet it remains on the shelf.