IT’S OFFICIAL. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)operates above the notion of any accountability to the West Indian public. Following a tension-filled two years in which its image has been battered as a result of contract disputes, lawsuits by former players, a proposal byregional governments to pursue its dissolution, and more recently, the rejection by senior player Denesh Ramdin,of the rationale for his dismissal, it was unthinkablethat the WICB would risk further outrageby new indiscretions.
But alas, this is the WICB. Buoyed by its sense of authoritarian invincibility, motivated by anything other than by respect, decency and genuine development, the board has summarily dismissed the captain of the West Indies T20 cricket team, Darren Sammy, who was responsible for leading the team to its highest achievements since the decade of the 1970s.
In keeping with the board’s record of disrespectful treatment of its former players, according to Sammy,his dismissal was effected via a thirty second telephone call (not conversation), by the recentlyappointed chairman of selectors Courtney Browne, whose earliest public act had been to dismiss Denesh Ramdin in equally cold circumstances. For his part, Ramdin unhesitatingly reminded Browne thathis meagre achievements as a player should have induced humility into his approach to current players whose résumés read far more impressively. Browne’s approach to Sammy suggests that Ramdin was casting his seeds on barren rock.
Clearly, Sammy’s dismissal and punishment have not done anything for cricket’s advancement. When, following his post-victory comments, Sammy had speculated that he might not lead a future West Indies team, his comments had been foregrounded by the absence of any T20 matches on the short term schedule. Significantly, once the WICB had arranged a one-off T20 series in the USA coincident with the ongoing Indian tour, Sammy’s dismissal was hastily announced.
There are no cricketing reasons. If Sammy was good enough to lead the West Indies to victory in April, his case was further enhanced by his performance in the 2016 Caribbean Premier League tournament, where his team gave its best showing.
The actions of the West Indies board reveal a deeply ingrained colonial tendency to “manners” underlingsat any cost. It is a vicious Caribbean problem, seen after every general election when elected novices take great pleasure in embarrassing perceived enemies whose contributions they can never match. It is condoned by a public which secretly enjoys the “pulling down” of the best amongst us, and it is abetted by parochial nationalism in which citizens of one country gloat over the demise of the “stars” from others.
Expressions of gratitude to genuine West Indianpatriots would be more forthcoming from a more highly democratically evolved population. Sammy, bothin his successes and now in his crude dismissal, has done his part in demanding the democratisation of West Indian cricket.
Eternal gratitude, skipper.
