Dear Editor,
The time has come for us to accept that the concept of a West Indies cricket team has fulfilled its purpose; it brought us much joy but now it is virtually dead, and should be allowed to rest in peace before the bad memories become more numerous than the happy ones.
What made the West Indies cricket team relevant since its inception were that the individual territories were too weak to stand up to international competitions, so the best of the players were chosen from each to form one strong team. Secondly, we had to prove to the former slave masters or colonial powers that we in the West Indies were also skilled players and could beat them at their own game; hence stirring up pride as a West Indian cricketer was not a major challenge. That is really no longer a social issue, so we are now at a point where a West Indies cricket team really has no cause for existence and become a part of nostalgic memories and Caribbean folklore. The present West Indies cricket structure and culture just cannot survive in a world where cricket is now big business, players’ images and rights involve legal considerations, there is professional management, big money 20/20 leagues are developing all over the world, etc. The present structures just cannot handle these modern issues and are becoming increasingly irrelevant, to the point where a proper relationship cannot be maintained with the players. I want to propose that we will never be able to come up with a structure which will work.
Furthermore, which one of the great West Indian cricketers has ever credited the WICB for their personal development? Not one in living memory! This point was recently highlighted by former West Indies Captain, Mr Jimmy Adams at a WIPA function some months ago, who went on to say that if it had been up to him, the cricket would have stopped a long time ago because of the unsolved problems between the players and the board. At the end of the day, it comes back to the development efforts of the individual territories. They just need to step up their game and think international, not just regional.
The six major cricketing territories must now seriously consider the benefits and relevancy of secession from the WICB and go on their own. Territories would then be forced to seriously consider and aggressively pursue the important issues of cricket and cricketers’ development. Some of them are going nowhere at the moment. A fairly prosperous island like St Lucia just recently produced their first Test cricketer – Darren Sammy – and he can hardly hold down his place in the team. And since the advent of Chanderpaul and Sarwan, what does a territory like Guyana have to show for its efforts? Surely, they can do better instead of hiding behind accusations of insularity on the part of the selectors. They just need the challenge and the context within which they will be forced to develop and grow. I am absolutely convinced that well-prepared Caribbean teams like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, for example, can at the very least give lower-ranked teams like Canada, Kenya, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe a run for their money. If these teams can be on the international stage, then our Caribbean teams can do likewise.
There was a time when international teams could hardly survive against the Barbados cricket team. The potential is still there around the Caribbean. It just needs to be properly developed and managed. Maybe, if the Trinidadians turned in a creditable performance at the international 20/20 club championships later this year in India, more of our administrators would begin to see the light. They have already given the English champions, Middlesex, a good beating at the last Stanford 20/20 competition.
If the above point is embraced, then it simply means that more of our cricketers will be exposed to international competitions and exposure and will therefore be given a chance to make a decent living. A cricket team can only play eleven players at a game. The contributions of substitute players are very restricted and hardly recognized, which means that cricket is a very limited sport in terms of the number of players being exposed at any given time. More international teams from the Caribbean will only benefit our young people with employment instead of them being idle on the streets, and encourage more of our youths to consider a career in cricket.
The diehard supporters of the concept of the WI team will always attempt to point out that the cricket team is the only institution which binds the region together. I want to challenge that false concept (in fact, the present state of WI cricket is instead serving to divide us more than anything else). I am Trinidadian and my wife is Jamaican. When the Jamaican football team went to the World Cup in 1998, my wife can tell you that no one was jumping up and down more than me. The same for her when Trinidad went to Germany in 2006. I was in Jamaica when Trinidad qualified and many of my Jamaican friends were quite happy and pleased over the efforts of the Trinis. In other sports, like athletics, people around the entire region seem to be very pleased over the representation and benefits which have occurred from the efforts of people like Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, etc. Any sports fan around the Caribbean can give you an accurate update on the exploits of Usain Bolt. Caribbean people will always support Caribbean people once they arrive on the world stage.
This is the time for sporting leaders to rise up and lead. Let us give God thanks for the good old days of West Indies cricket and move on. It is now time for Caribbean cricket teams to rise and make the region proud on the international stage. The six territories have grown to the place where the bird-nest of West Indies cricket can no longer contain them and it has become a very uncomfortable arrangement for everyone – administrators, fans and most importantly, the players. It is time for each individual territory to fly away and build their own nests – just as we are successfully doing in football, athletics and other sports. Over to you now regional cricket associations.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor Wesley Boynes
