Dear Editor,
To me, at any rate, two of the most baffling things about the Caribbean region are (1) the reluctance of so many countries to make the decision to complete the architecture of independence by voting for the CCJ as their top court to replace the English Privy Council, and (2) the reluctance of their cricket administrators and fans to accept the critical importance of mental preparation for international cricket encounters.
In Thursday`s edition of your paper Oscar Ramjeet offered an explanation for the CCJ issue which I confess to have never considered and while I hope he is wrong it is the only explanation I have heard that seems tethered to rationality. The cricket conundrum remains unresolved. Wednesday`s game against India reached another low point leading the captain Carlos Brathwaite to remark that “we need to make the best decisions”. In bowling, after 4 overs they looked a completely different unit from the workmanlike one that kept the Indians partially in check only two days ago, while the fielding, and especially the batting, appeared completely unprofessional, with their top batsman having his third early run out. At that level of competition the mental element (and I am not talking about book learning) things like capacity to relax and confidence are the keys to success. Mental gymnastics has to be learned, professional help is available to our players and we must make use of them.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
