In 1995 West Indies opener Desmond Haynes was not selected by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for the Test and One-Day Series against Australia.
At the time, the WICB had stipulated that in order to be eligible for selection on the Test and One Day teams, players must take part in five Red Stripe Cup first class games.
Haynes, who was at the time playing for England County side Middlesex, had played in four games and though he pleaded for special dispensation, the WICB was unmoved.
This issue led later to a protracted court case with the Barbados opener suing the WICB.
Fast forward 15 years to 2010 and this year’s regional four-day tournament which begins its second round today.
Firstly, unlike 1995, there is no sponsor.
Secondly, a number of the players namely Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Sulieman Benn, Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor are reportedly injured.
Thirdly, a few are playing `Big Bash’ cricket in Australia, one supposes, with the blessings of the WICB.
All of this at a time when the WICB has begun experimenting to find ways of attracting regional cricket fans back to the sport.
They have introduced day/night cricket and the use of pink balls in the regional four-day championships with Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago clashing today in Antigua in the opening match.
The president of the WICB Julian Hunte and the chief executive officer Ernest Hilaire have been at pains explaining that the new measures were geared at bringing back the fans to the sport.
But they have failed to attract the region’s biggest drawing cards to the regional cricket tournament.
Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Keiron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are bashing away not in the Caribbean but in Australia showing little if any inclination at all to stay at home and help develop the region’s cricket. In essence Gayle and company are nothing more than mercenaries selling their skills to the highest bidder.
How serious can Gayle and company be about the future of West Indies cricket if they are bashing away in Australia and missing the most important tournament in the region?
Gayle and company have an obligation to West Indies cricket that goes deeper than just representing the region in Test, One-Dayers and Twenty20 bashes, poorly or otherwise.
No wonder West Indies cricket is at an all time low.
One can recall the days when a little master by the name of Brian Lara was reeling off hundreds in the regional competition like water running from a kitchen tap and yet could not force his way into the regional side.
Today no regional batsman averages over 50 in Test cricket with Chanderpaul’s 48.70 being the highest. The WICB has again found itself between a rock and a hard place.
They have issued 33 players with retainer contracts but seem unable to tell some of those players that they are needed at home to play in the regional tournaments and help the younger players coming up.
Perhaps they want to avoid another stand-off with the players. But since the WICB has issued them with retainer contracts, the WICB should tell Mr. Gayle and company that whenever West Indies cricket engagements clashes with other tournaments such as the lucrative Big Bashes and IPL tournaments that their first obligation should be to West Indies cricket in all forms.
If their first loyalty is to self and not West Indies cricket the WICB should tell them where to go.
