GOVERNOR-General Sir Howard Cooke is an avid cricket fan and like most Jamaicans, he is concerned about the present state of West Indies cricket.
According to the former school teacher and former middle-order batsman and right-arm legspinner who represented Portland, St. Thomas and St. James between 1952 and 1962 and who captained Portland and St. James, there is a lot of talent around.
However, with good guidance, with good leadership at all levels and by mixing cricket and education, he thinks West Indies cricket can once again be the best in the world.
The Governor-General shares his thoughts in a One-on-One with The Gleaner.
QUESTION: Sir Howard, as one who has been watching the West Indies team for so many years what do you think is the reason for the present state of affairs?
HOWARD COOKE: Preparation, pride and unity are certainly three things that are lacking. As you know, I was at The Oval during the recent series and when the English team went on to the field you recognised that they were a team, whether they were having success or they were having failure or whatever was happening. I got the impression that they were not disjointed in any way and that they regarded any little success of one as success for everyone.
On the contrary, I got the impression that there was not enough team spirit in the West Indies team. Individually, the members seemed OK, but I did not get the impression that there was a co-ordinated force with a philosophy and a determination. On top of that, England played like the West Indies of old and the West Indies played like England of old.
I am not an expert, but from the outset the West Indies players seemed afraid and that is not the way we play cricket. Even in the bushes of Jamaica it is aggression. You hit the ball, or catch the ball, or run it down.
COACHING
Question: Do you think coaching has anything with that approach?
HC: I don't know about that. Looking on, however, something is lacking. I do not know if it is the fault of the administration. I don't know what it is. I am not in a position to say, but when I listen to those who should know, like Michael Holding, among the problems is the lack of togetherness, of unity, and I think that at all levels we need to look at leadership.
Question: By leadership do you mean the captain?
HC: Not at all. I am talking about leadership elsewhere. I am not sure that we are looking at the composition of our team - at the kind of people we select to represent the West Indies. So many seem to lack drive, to lack urgency and to lack pride.
Sometimes when a catch is dropped you get the feeling that the fielder was not ready, that he was not concentrating. Sometimes when a batsman gets out you get the feeling that he is satisfied with what he has done, even though he could have done more for the team, even though the team is still in trouble.
Maybe we have to look if we are selecting players, not who are too young, but who are not ready, who are not prepared. So often they do well in the field in the first two sessions, but then suddenly they look tired. That means either that they are not fit enough or that mentally they are not ready for such competition.
YOUNG PLAYERS
Question: So do you, as so many do, believe that there are too many young players in the team at the same time?
HC: No, not really. Nothing is wrong with young players. I do believe, however, that they have not been properly prepared to compete at that level. Do you remember what we called 'curry goat' cricket? We used to go into the country and play, we used to take along a few youngsters and that was good for their development both as cricketers and as people. In those days, the people in the communities were involved and by being involved, they assisted in the grooming of the young players.
When I used to play my little cricket there were young players who were taken over by doctors and lawyers and teachers, people who looked after them, financially and otherwise, people who they respected, people who they listened to, and those people were like mentors to them. Today we hardly have people like those, people like F.M. Jones in Portland, Dr. Wright in St. Thomas and "Pharaoh" Campbell in St. Catherine.
Society has changed and in many respects that is good. We need to change the emphasis in the society a little bit, however. We need to move from the dancehall to the cricket field.
We need more people of substance in the society getting involved with our young people, with our young sportsmen and cricketers. We need those people around so that our cricketers can be exposed to more than cricket, so that they can develop themselves and not only their skills with bat and ball.
Too many of our sportsmen, too many of our cricketers, lack the social graces and the blame is not entirely theirs. The society also must be blamed. Too many of our people are too selfish these days. Young people need guidance and it is the responsibility of the older, experienced folks to provide that guidance. We need more people in the society, in the clubs, who will stand up for good discipline, good grooming.
You need a kind of leadership that players respect, the kind of presidents that players respect, the kind of captains that players respect, the kind of leaders that are such that young players won't smoke before them. The kind of leadership we need is the kind that will motivate young players to develop themselves fully, to develop their minds.
TALENT
Question: So unlike what many are saying, you believe that there is enough talent around.
HC: Oh, definitely. It is not that our young players are not any good, it is that they need to be properly groomed so that they will have more pride in themselves and therefore in their performance. Those are the people who perform, particularly when things get tough.
Times have changed, but some things that have changed should not have changed. Too many of our people lack the social skills, do not know how to sit, do not know how to converse, have not learned how to listen, do not know how to dress, they are not learning, and on top of that, club life has deteriorated. The development of young people as people is no longer important.
We should have people to guide them, to let them know what life is about, what life expects of them, to advise them not to buy earrings but to save.
We need to teach our young players not only to bat brilliantly, not only to bowl and field brilliantly, but also to be gentlemen, to be good citizens for the benefit of themselves, their families and the country.
Question: Since the problem is not the lack of talent, since it is, according to you, probably the lack of preparation, pride, and unity, what would you, if it were left to you, do to improve the performance of the West Indies team?
HC: The first thing I would do is this: I would encourage them to do more than play cricket and in doing that, I would offer scholarships so that they will be in a position to develop themselves fully.
We have to understand that education is important to every upward movement - and that includes top performances in sport. If a talented sportsman, a talented cricketer can read and write well, if he is a good mathematician, he is a better person and the better a person he is the better a cricketer he will be.
That is a fact and that is what we need to do. We need to develop our cricketers in an environment that will develop them fully.
