POLITICAL CORRECTNESS has apparently become a thing of the past in West Indies cricket.
The game is nowfilled with more loose cannon than you will find in an army.
This new order is reflected in comments made by both administrators and players. In a sense, I think it is a good thing because for far too long we have been content to sweep things under the carpet without confronting issues with the haste and reason they deserve. Subsequently, they recur to the detriment of the proper governance of the game.
I believe the bad part is that certain sentiments are best left said behind closed doors because some attempts to settle matters via the media only make things worse.
In my opinion, the when and where concept still has its place in public discourse. And it used to be so for the majority of time in regional cricket.
I found Denesh Ramdin’s reaction to his axing from the team for the forthcoming series against India to be extraordinary. What was most startling was his disclosure of the conversation he had with chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne, about why he was overlooked even before the team was formally announced.
He used social media to break the news and proceeded to carry on about the chairman’s own career average compared to his and the time he famously dropped Australian Steve Waugh who went on to score a double century, capitalising on his good fortune.
Not a problem with me if he wanted to vent because of the news he received. Nobody likes to be dropped, but he could have waited until after the squad was announced officially.
Honestly, I didn’t need to know what Browne told him in a private setting.
There was a time when it was part of West Indies Cricket Board’s (WIBC) protocol to allow the chairman of selectors to meet the press and field questions about their selections. It should continue to happen consistently.
Ramdin, though, is no stranger to controversy. Remember the paper he pulled from his pocket directed at legend Sir Viv Richards in a Test in England in 2012?
In 2011, outspoken opener Chris Gayle slammed the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and team management on a Jamaican radio station, KLAS FM, after he was left out of a One-Day series against Pakistan.
Gayle said he was forced to sign an Indian Premier League contract because the board had disrespected and mistreated him by not contacting him before the Pakistan squad was announced and not checking on the progress of his rehabilitation from a side strain.
He also accused then head coach Ottis Gibson of being a “user” and messing with players’ minds. The matter was resolved eventually with the mediation of Guyana’s President Bharat Jagdeo and some CARICOM heads.
Cameron’s retweet
WICB head Dave Cameron retweeted a fan’s criticism of Gayle following poor form against Pakistan in an ODI series.
It read: “Gayle goes . . . . Can’t buy a run. Let’s give him a retirement package.Can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation.” Cameron later deleted the tweet and apologised after pressure from many circles.
After the recent T20 World Cup victory Dwayne Bravo told CNC3 TV in Trinidad: “A lot of people don’t understand the things we go through as players dealing with the board. ”
Captain Darren Sammy spoke openly at the presentation ceremony about the many challenges they faced leading up to and during the tournament and what he perceived as the lack of support from the board. Some felt he chose the wrong time to express such sentiments.
Mild-mannered head coach Phil Simmons claimed that there was “interference from outside” that apparently led to the exclusion of leading all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the ODI squad to Sri Lanka last year. He was suspended temporarily for the comments, but later reinstated in time to lead the team to the T20 World Cup in India.
Former president of the West Indies Players Association, Dinanath Ramnarine, led this new order of verbal attack.
In 2010 he stated: “What is lacking in West Indies cricket at the moment is professionalism. Once we continue to operate in an anything goes way, then we are in for more problems and when one thinks that things are bad right now, it would get worse.”
Prophetic?
For sure, not even Donald Trump has anything on our cricket millennials when it comes to political correctness or lack thereof.
• Andi Thornhill is an experienced award-winning sports journalist.