Tomorrow, Thursday, June 1, the eighth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy begins in London, England with Bangladesh taking on the hosts at the Oval. The West Indies, one of only two teams to be three-time finalists, will be conspicuous by their absence from the tournament for the first time ever. In recent times fans have become accustomed to having very little or no hope when these tournaments commence; now for the first time they find themselves relegated to the non-qualifiers. Is this the nadir of West Indian cricket?
Courtney Browne, current chairman of selectors, and the dwindling tribe of fans will no doubt be reflecting on the 2004 Championship achieved at the same venue. On Saturday, September 25, chasing England’s total of 217, the West Indies found themselves on the ropes in the 34th over, at 147 for 8, with the fall of the innings’ anchor and top scorer, Shiv Chanderpaul for 47. With West Indian fans resigned to the inevitable defeat, number ten in the line-up, Barbadian Ian Bradshaw, joined the London-born wicketkeeper Browne who had been recalled out of the blue after a four year absence.
Over the next sixty-eight minutes, mixing mild aggression with solid defence in the fading light, the pair saw their team home to an improbable victory by two wickets with seven balls remaining. Browne, 35 and player of the match, Bradshaw, 34, had delivered one for the ages. Of that team, only Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, T20 specialists as of late, and the evergreen, Chanderpaul, currently with Lancashire County remain active in the game.
Browne had served as a member of the selection panel for six years before being appointed as its chairman last June. His task is not an enviable one; in fact it resembles a maze or rather a minefield, with only failure at the end.
First, there is the WICB Board and President who on the surface appear to be serving their own interests, which can be linked to the mistrust between the players and their union. It should be noted that this scepticism between the board and the union can be traced back to the formation of the West Indies Players Association in the mid-1970s and has always hovered in the background. When will there be an agreement between the board and the players, that allows the players to pursue other contracts (read T20 leagues), as long as they make themselves available for the West Indies when required, as exists in New Zealand? Which begs the question, when was the last time that the best eleven were chosen to represent the West Indies?
The revolving door of coaches has to come to a halt. Hopefully, with Jimmy Adams’ appointment as Director of Coaching, along with Stuart Law as coach, the side will be allowed to grow and develop (hands off please WICB) as a unit over the next four to five years. A culture of consistency and continuity must be cultivated and encouraged to flourish. In the recent Test series, there was a hint of this as the selectors persisted with the Guyanese duo Shimron Hetmyer and Vishaul Singh, despite their lacklustre scores.
Browne can empathise with this current generation of players who have grown up in a culture of losing. His debut was the fourth (and final) Test of the 1995 home series versus Australia ywhen the West Indies lost a series for the first time in fifteen years. His crucial miss of a relatively easy chance off of Steve Waugh must surely haunt him to this day. Dropped by the wicketkeeper on 42, with the score at 173 for 3, Steve would add another 131 to the then century partnership with his twin brother Mark, on his way to a match and series innings’ decider of 200. Thus, Browne can forgive Shannon Gabriel’s needless heave of the last ball of the penultimate over of the Third Test against Pakistan which cost the hosts the series instead of a possible morale boosting drawn one.
Sir Viv Richards credits a significant role of his transformation from promising to dominant player to a series of conversations with the then relatively unknown sports psychologist, Barbadian Dr Rudi Webster. The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Dr Webster in Barbados during early 2015: “Success in sports is built on four interconnected pillars – fitness, physical skill, tactics and strategy, and mental skills. If any one of these pillars is weak performance will suffer. During the last fifteen years this has been a problem with the West Indies cricket team. Although the players have been fit, athletic and talented they still performed poorly because of inadequate strategies and a weak mental pillar.”
Chairman of Selectors, the fans empathise with you. This is not a West Indian cricketing nadir, this is a rebirth. All they ask of you is to find players whose mental toughness is similar to that of Jason Holder’s and Royston Chase’s, and who want to win.
