As West Indies cricket continues to decline even further, one has to search for any hope, even when none appears forthcoming. As much as we hope for a turnaround, it appears now that that is just wishful thinking.
Perhaps, Cricket West Indies (CWI) should immediately remove the five selectors, chairman Courtney Browne (Barbados), Eldine Baptiste (Antigua and Leeward Islands), Lockhart Sebastian (Dominica and Windward Islands), Travis Dowlin (Guyana) and the apparently unknown but not unnamed man from CWI.
I have decided to be totally insular, like so many of my other Caribbean journalists, particularly those from Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua, St Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts, Anguilla, Grenada, St Vincent and Montserrat…just to mention a few. Whether they are on television, radio or in the print media, their obvious bias is shameless.
In that regard, having visited several parishes in this country over the last three months, just when things went from bad to worse in our cricket, with the loss of a coach and loss of sensible thought in cricket.
Imagine, that persons are now betting on how long will the West Indies team survive in a Test match, with three days being the odds-on favourite on most occasions, and proving to be accurate after the two completed Tests in Bangladesh.
How can any cricket board, any cricket committee with any pride and no prejudice, stand by and watch the hapless show from men calling themselves – West Indies cricketers. All you have to do is examine, the dismal performances of the West Indies batsmen against spin, and to think that the West Indies Cricket claimed they utilised the services of former Pakistan spin bowler Mushtaq Ahmed.
It is now abundantly clear, that either Ahmed’s coaching was poorly delivered or the players did not learn enough. We need an explanation but the facts are, we will receive none from anyone at the CWI.
Just a note, the bowling coach of Bangladesh is former West Indies fast bowler and West Indies selector, Jamaican Courtney Walsh and Bangladesh opened the West Indies innings with spin bowlers as spin bowling captured all the wickets in the first Test and second Tests (another record). It is a sad indictment that as we go in search for coaches, many of the leading regional coaches cannot or would not, it appears. work with the West Indies Cricket Board of Control.
So my four new selectors, who will need to be men of the “cloth” to have the temperament to deal with the fifth selector, are as follows, Fr Steve Duncan (Santa Rosa Heights), Fr Matthew D’Hereaux (St Joseph), Fr Arnold Francis (Curepe) and Fr Ian Taylor (Tunapuna) … I have to say recent evidence would suggest that Fr Matthew’s articulation skill at ensuring his listeners pay attention and follow instructions, means he should be the rightful convenor of selectors.
The rest of his team, those three priests are all God-fearing, and if there was no one else in the cricketing world that "fear" our team, both bowling and batting any more, then a stint with this quartet would assist in possibly building the confidence of our players and at least making our opponents know that something “good” is in our corner.
We need this sort of honest attention to detail that both D’Hereaux and Duncan command, and with Francis and Taylor in tandem, that sort of attack could only work in the favour of the West Indies team.
We can no longer bury our collective heads in the sand and allow West Indies cricket to free fall without putting up a fight, forming some sort of resistance to this because it is clear that the CARICOM leaders have no say or sway, and instead the International Cricket Council (ICC) consider them and Caricom to be a "big joke" and impotent force.
It would be a travesty, if we do make these changes to West Indies cricket, sooner rather than later. Imagine adding insult to injury, that the second Test win by Bangladesh was there best ever in their history of Test cricket.
So as we continue to set the wrong records in world cricket, it is time to employ, Messrs D’Hereaux, Duncan, Taylor and Francis, and I am certain they would work for much less than the current quartet, that is making a “mess” of our cricket.