THE QUALITY of cricket played by the West Indies, who have been weighed in the balance and found wanting in recent years, is about to be given a new assessment starting this weekend in Barbados when the Pakistanis come a-calling.
Following the embarrassing whitewash dished out to us a few weeks ago by the visiting English team, the officials, the selectors, the coaches and the players have a new opportunity to put things right.
Further, we now have a somewhat less regarded and more mercurial side with which to compete. Although ranked higher than Pakistan in the T20 version (6th and 4th), West Indies lag in both Tests (6th and 8th) and ODIs (8th and 9th).
One way for West Indies cricket to be renewed and its fortune bolstered is to repeal and replace, to use a common political term in the United States, the old-fashioned massa-type lording over of players by officials and instead, begetting a more cooperative spirit between the parties for the good of the loyal and long-suffering supporters in particular, but indeed, all stakeholders.
At the core of the problem is probably the outdated system used to elect officers of the WICB that makes board changes almost unfeasible.
No wonder that given what many perceive as the poor performance of the president over the past four years, no one volunteered to compete against him in the most recent election process. The awkward and almost impenetrable occupancy which facilitates secure tenure for incumbents, may well be at the source of much of the arrogance that is nakedly displayed.
When one acknowledges the tense relations between some key players and officialdom in Caribbean cricket, we can reasonably conclude that the deletion of the word “control” from its original name (West Indies Cricket Board of Control), which was meant to make the organisation more democratic, is not the lived experience of cricketers since the advent of the most recent manifestation of its leadership.
Regrettably, we note that the chasm that exists between the likes of Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy as three examples, and the leadership of the West Indies Cricket Board is not wholesome for our cricket and of little inspiration to the next generation of players.
Nothing in this suggestion is meant to imply that we want our best players on the field regardless of their alleged indiscretions. But prolonged ill feeling following ill-advised statements should be addressed with alacrity in the interest of our game.
Unless ingenuity is embraced with a view of breathing an innovative and more obliging attitude towards relationships in West Indies cricket, any successes that may be obtained on the field of play will be transitory at best.
The road to eventual and sustained success in engagement on that magical 22-yard strip where the contest is truly joined must start in the boardroom where directors confront truth, however hideous and unattractive it may appear to be.
In the meantime, cricket-loving Caribbean people will continue to quibble about who would be the correct selectors and the best coaches, the right captains and the finest combination of players, when the source of problems is to be found on a much higher, untouchable elevation.
