Tony Becca
THE PAST 10 years have been miserable times for West Indies cricket. In those years the West Indies team has gone from the best in the world to a position where it is now, and has been for a long time, ranked only above Zimbabwe and Bangladesh among the 10 Test-playing countries, and something must be done about it.
The question, however, is what can be done about it - what can West Indies cricket do to improve its skill level with bat and ball and in the field?
While there are many answers to that question, including placing more emphasis, or rather some emphasis, on the schools and on the clubs, including a professional first-class league, one should be and must be to get former past masters of West Indies cricket, the greats of yesterday, involved with West Indies cricket.
In 77 years of Test cricket, the West Indies have produced not only some outstanding teams, not only one of it not the best teams of all time, but also some of the greatest batsmen, bowlers and fielders in the history of the game, and although a few of them, including Rohan Kanhai who had a successful stint, have done so for short periods, it is strange, very strange, that more of them are not involved in coaching.
TOO MUCH TALK ABOUT DEEDS
One reason for that is the complaint that the greats of yesterday spend more time talking about their deeds on the field rather than coaching. Another reason is the lack of money, another reason is the failure of West Indians to respect their own, still another is the constant talk about their lack of qualification. While some of that is true, most of it is hog wash.
Remembering, for example, that four Australians are being paid handsomely to lift the performance of the West Indies team, the money excuse is just that - an excuse, and so too is the talk about the lack of qualification.
While qualification is necessary for someone who is going to administer, qualification is not necessary for some one who is going to teach youngsters how to bat, how to bowl and how to field.
What is necessary to do that is the ability to bat, to bowl and to field, and it would be strange, very strange indeed, if the former greats of West Indies cricket, of world cricket, men like Viv Richards, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Roger Harper and Gus Logie cannot bat, cannot bowl and cannot field.
QUALIFIED
Even if it is true that none of them are qualified to administer a coaching programme, each and every one of them can coach. As masters of their art they must be able to teach the skills of batting, bowling, fielding and catching, and even if it is only for a specific duty, even if it is only for the great batsmen to assist in the development of the region's batsmen and for the great bowlers and the great fielders to do likewise for the region's bowlers and fielders, they should be involved and should be encouraged to get involved with West Indies cricket.
The time has come to stop talking; the time has come to act; the time has come to put a programme in place that will take West Indies cricket back to or near to its former glory. In an effort to do that, the time has come to get those who have been to the war and who conquered to help prepare those who are now in the war and those who may be called to duty so that they may become conquerors instead of, as it has been for 10 years now, the conquered.
There is a feeling that some of the greats of yesterday are arrogant, that they are tough and uncompromising, and that may well be so. Apart from the fact that that can be dealt with by good administrators, however, that arrogance, that toughness and that uncompromising attitude may well have been the reason for their greatness and may well be what the present standard-bearers and those next in line need in order to become great.
