Take West Indies cricket off life support

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The current state of West Indies cricket belies the rich legacy that was bequeathed to us by giants such as Headley, Worrell, Weeks, Gibbs, Sobers, Kanhai and Lara.

An era of dominance that was nurtured from the late ‘50s, reached its peak beginning in the late ‘70s, and ended in the early ‘90s after Viv Richards’ retirement.

While there was a gradual, if not precipitous fall thereafter, there were signs indicating that the ‘great era’ was coming to an end. We saw the sudden departure of several key players from the team, leaving a void which, to date, has not been filled.

That crucial mix of experience and youth, which was always a feature of West Indies cricket, ceased with the almost simultaneous departure of Richards, Greenidge, Haynes and Dujon, Garner and Holding.

This was obviously a sign that the erstwhile West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was at odds with itself, as many fans were in disagreement with the sudden changing of the guard.

This void was obviously created by the board, who, in my opinion, failed to see the value of having succession through merit, as the newly recruited were not logical replacements for those that were omitted.

This in no way suggests that our great players should remain in the team indefinitely. However, no player should replace another without having earned his place by virtue of superior performance, as this maintains the drive to strive for the prize.

We then saw the emergence of ‘selection of players by potential’, rather than by their impressive record while representing their territory.

We should not forget that the last two batsmen to ‘force’ themselves into the West Indies team by dint of performance were Lara and Chanderpaul. It should not be lost on us that they were the last of our great batsmen over the past 30 years.

That, to my mind, marked the beginning of the ad hoc selection of batsmen, some with nothing more than ordinary random performances before being called to pad up.

Batting heroes create interest among spectators, as well as inspire our youngsters to emulate them.

The resulting decline in batting performance by the West Indies led to the eventual decline in interest and attendance.

With the English counties reducing the call for foreign players, this should have been a wake-up call to the WICB to step up the interterritorial matches.

Instead, the competition has been struggling to survive for the last two decades.

The pathetic spectacle of the West lndies on tour, performing poorly in front of a handful of spectators, is very painful to many of us.

The way forward, if the game is to survive, will be a long one and must again be introduced at primary, preparatory and high school levels with the teaching of proper batting, bowling and fielding techniques, overseen by professional coaches.

TREVOR BAILEY