There is a saying that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
The recent situation between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and master batsman Chris Gayle can be likened to that saying.
Upon returning from playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a fantastic season, the West Indies opener was made by the WICB to rest on his laurels while the West Indies senior One-Day team lost the first three matches of the Digicel One-Day Series.
It was easy to predict that representatives of the WICB would seem in little or no hurry to meet Gayle to enable him to play any meaningful role in the just concluded series.
As fate would have it the series is over and done with and any chance of Gayle playing in the final match in Jamaica evaporated very early with the news that the two sides had failed to come to a compromise after last Tuesday’s meeting.
The other bit of bad news came on Friday which stated that Gayle is also out of the first test. So much for that.
The crux of the matter is that the WICB is upset with statements made by Gayle. So what?
Sportsmen make statements all the time. The difference is in the way other sports organizations deal with those statements. In most cases the player is fined a substantial fee and allowed to get on with the job of helping his country win sporting wars.
In the WICB’s case the option is to use the power at its disposal to dispose of all those who do not toe the line.
By the time the WICB had gotten round to meeting with Gayle and force him to do an about face, the outcome of the series had already been settled.
Of course, one would need to say thanks to the WICB and its selection panel for that outcome.
While the Indian team could certainly do without the world’s leading batsman, Sachin Tendulkar in a one day series in the Caribbean, what is galling is that they were also without skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, opener Gautam Gambhir, all rounder Yuvraj Singh and explosive opener Virender Sehwag. Yet they still managed to win the series hands down.
It is yet to be understood why the WICB saw the wisdom in leaving out Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, having them bask in the sunshine, or simply to share their voices with the West Indian crowds, while the Indian team beat their colleagues like lolly pops.
So painful is the case with Chanderpaul that former skipper, Sir Vivian Richards, could no longer contain his disappointment —- one no doubt shared by millions of West Indians who must endure defeat after defeat compliments, of course, the W ICB.
Richards had to remind the Czars of Caribbean cricket that when it was not traditional for West Indian batsmen to be among the runs, Chanderpaul almost single-handedly stood up for the West Indies and he made his bat count. He does not agree with the powers that be that Chanderpaul resign and quietly walk away into the sunset.
As far as the WICB is concerned though, Chanderpaul should have called it quits a long time ago.
Perhaps, it is not for this newspaper to say which member of the board or which member of the coaching staff should call it quits.
Like a true Caribbean man, Gayle found the time to attend the WIPA meeting in Trinidad and be among the thousands who were rooting for the West Indies team in what amounted to be a lost cause.
Of course the WICB members were too busy to find time to meet with and talk to him before the West Indies team received their trouncing from the Indians.
On another note, one bit of news that is heartening is that the WICB is welcoming the intervention of Caricom to determine the causes and one suppose, to find the solutions to the problems plaguing West Indies cricket.
For those with long memories who might want to say that the WICB has gone this route before and that the Patterson Committee report is still fresh in the minds of a lot of cricket lovers, don’t.
One has to be thankful for small mercies so one has to say, “It could have been worse.”
One hopes that in its infinite wisdom, not known to lesser mortals, the WICB will not allow the state of play to continue any further.
Cricket has long been referred to as a gentlemen’s game but it does not seem as if there are too many of those species left.
