Dear Editor,
For the second time in recent years (this time speaking with the great footballer Shaka Hislop) I have heard or read Jeffrey Dujon’s viewpoint that West Indies cricket needs to be revamped at the schoolboy level over a period of several years before they can compete with senior players from leading cricket countries. It seems to me that the Dujon philosophy needs to explain how Lara, Chanderpaul, Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels with his bad knee, could have scored the runs they did; how Dwayne Bravo could have become the cleverest medium pace bowler; Sunil Narine, one of the best off-break bowlers; and the same Dwayne Bravo along with Pollard, Russell and Sammy among the most exciting fieldsmen in the game. Dujon will also have to explain why he and Ian Bishop rate the twenty-four year old Shai Hope so highly as a batsman; why Adrian Barath scored a century in his first Test and was rated so highly by the incomparable Lara; why Devon Smith was rated the best nineteen-year-old batsman in the world; why many knowledgeable cricket people think Russell could be the most devastating cricketer around; indeed why last year West Indies won four world championships. While Dujon seems to attach enormous significance to fundamentals, he, more than most, because of the period during which he represented the West Indies, would have been aware of what his captain Richards had to say about the help he received from sports psychologist Rudi Webster early in his career. He would have recognized its importance in the game today, and advocated for its widespread use in preparation for international encounters. Dujon may well have an important point to make. Nevertheless I think that West Indies cricket can be immeasurably better even in the short run if we could significantly improve the quality of our administration generally, especially as it relates to management-player relations and preparations for international encounters. A good starting point would be to end the ridiculous selection rules that severely limit the availability of players, and have much longer preparation for international series, starting with the one against India on June 23, for which preparation should start immediately, even while the Afghanistan series is being played. Dujon is obviously a man of independent thought who can and should speak to power with confidence. They just might listen.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
