Dear Editor,
In his article ‘The Inevitable happens for Holder’ (Trinidad Express, Sept 6) Tony Cozier, who has been writing authoritatively on WI cricket, for over fifty years, made the following observation:
“Adrian Barath,who made a debut century in Australia at 19, no longer merits a place for Trinidad and Tobago. The elegant lefthander Kieron Powell, one of the 9 West Indians with hundreds in each innings in a Test, has mysteriously disappeared from the game`s radar at 23.”
Note that the writer did not mention when Barath made his century (it was less than 5 years ago), and did not appear terribly interested in why he no longer merited a place in T&T. As to Powell, it is enough that he “mysteriously disappeared from the game`s radar” in an island the size of St Kitts.
These two young men, in their short careers, impressed all who saw them. Powell made a century the first time he was paired with Gayle, who once expressed excitement about the prospect of opening with Barath, about whose talent Brian Lara himself had no doubt. In fact the WICB were prepared to suspend Gayle for 18 months and ignore all Gayle`s prior partners, so certain were they that Barath and Powell and the young Brathwaite could adequately replace the lot. Today it is not so much that these two young talents appear to be finished even before maturity, but that no one seems to care.
It is this bizarre disregard for, lack of interest in, or even dislike of players, young or old, more than anything else that I believe accounts for the state of WI cricket. It is as if they are all disposable, even in the midst of scarcity. Look at the nonchalance with which Ramdin has been removed from the captaincy in light of the perfectly sensible rationale that obtained at the time of his appointment. Far be it from me to question Holder`s suitability for the captaincy, but so many knowledgeable and distinguished people have expressed reservations that one would have expected a thorough explanation for the decision; indeed, for many of the selections for the tour of Sri Lanka.
This problem of the attitude to players is not entirely new, but it seems to have worsened as the length of the team`s sojurn in the wilderness has increased, and ironically, as opportunities for replacing incomes from the board with those from foreign sources, have increased.
As serious as the governance issues in WI cricket are, the financial problems faced by the board in the wake of the Indian fiasco may cause those issues to be more susceptible of solution than this attitude problem that appears grounded in the psychological make-up of the decision-makers.
Not since the days when Rowe, Kallicharan, Franklyn Stephenson, Croft and such luminaries were personae non gratae, did WI cricket have so many apparently talented players who are not playing at the highest level.
The way forward requires a great deal more and better communication between administrators, players, coaches, journalists and those generally interested in removing obstacles to progress. It is a matter of great urgency and may require something in the nature of a commission of inquiry by people who have no axes to grind.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
