Former manager of the T&T and West Indies cricket teams, Omar Khan is calling on local cricketers to be more professional in their approach to the game, if they are to succeed. The highly respectable official was speaking at the annual prize-giving ceremony of the South Zonal Cricket Council at Hermitage Community Centre in San Fernando on Friday night.Using West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo as an example, Khan said discipline and professionalism is what is needed to get ahead in the sport and in life generally."When Dwayne Bravo was selected to play for T&T for the first time, he missed the game because of what I saw as a serious fault in his approach to the game.
"The night before the game we stayed at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) and as manager I told the players to pack their kits, so that they can concentrate on having a good breakfast in the morning instead of rushing to have things in order."Bravo showed up at Guaracara Park and just as we were about to declare our team to the match officials and the opposing Guyana team, Bravo came to me and said he had brought down two left sides of his shoes. I told skipper Ganga of the situation and we decided to play the 12th man and leave out Dwayne. I then told him to have his parents pick him up at the park because he was no longer in the squad for the match.
"Of course he was upset but today he says that the moment changed his approach and now Bravo is one of the most disciplined and professional cricketers we have on the West Indies cricket team."
Khan, who is also chairman of T&TEC added that today's technology has taken youngsters away from the sporting fields and they are now happy to be indoors."Today, the youths are more involved in things like the cellphone, the ipods and these kinds of gadgets. I got my first cellphone in 1996 and this was when I was already a grown man. In our day we would come from school and look to find the spot where cricket and football is being played and go down there to play. "Somehow we as administrators must find a way to get the youths interested in the sport again and to show them that they can have a very comfortable living playing sport."