Dear Editor
Recently we wrote to you describing West Indies myopic view of itself as an organization. Following the publication of the letter, we have received nearly 455 responses via phone messages, text, email and social media shares. The letter was only published yesterday, 20 January 2022. We believe that is a good indication that the letter was having the intended effect. As such, I will use this opportunity to highlight a few other issues that are constantly being discussed in rum shops, cricket grounds, on social media, amongst friends, professionals and fans.
First, I want to respond to Sir Viv Richards portrayal of the organization’s failure. I am confident that Sir Viv did not intend to criticize the West Indian Cricket Board for their failure to monitor, supervise, evaluate and recommend necessary as actions to improve the pitch conditions. Yes, he suggested that the problem now, is that our wickets are the reason we are not performing. I wonder how Jimmy Adams and company feels about Sir Viv’s comments. I am equally confident they are angry as hell about Sir Viv Richards’ observation and wished he had not said those things. What do you think is going on here? Sounds like Sir Viv is blaming the men who prepared the wickets. One cannot blame the low level grounds’ keepers for preparing bad pitches. In fact, preparing pitches is a science and requires significant knowledge and experience. Curators they are called, and countries like England hires only the best in the business. Here is a look at what a grounds’ staff must know: the nature of soil, type of soil, the soil’s ability to retain moisture under various conditions. For example, how much moisture will this wicket retain after the rains have passed? How will the pitch behave after the covers have been removed? And when watering the wicket, a curator must follow specific formulas that maximise a combination of soil, water, sunshine, humidity, and rolling. Which rollers to use? What is the output going to look like once watered, and rolled.
According to Sir Viv Richards, and several others like the incoming chairman of selection for Guyana cricket, Rabindranaught Seeram, they all believe that the wickets are the main cause for failures. Yes, I did have a video call last week with Seeram and he is resigned to the same idea of Sir Viv Richards, but like Sir Viv, Seeram has no solution to the problem. It is not clear how and why prominent individuals continue to identify problems of the West Indies cricket, but do not offer solutions. We see in Pollard’s case that he has not been trained how to give a press conference, and so we see regular evidence of it on TV. Likewise, we give contracts for curating cricket pitches, to friends of friends. When this happens, we look the other way when it comes to validating, verifying their actual experience in grounds’ management. Instead, a man with a lawn mower and weed wacker gets a contract for cutting grass on various Georgetown grounds. Cutting grass is one thing and you do not need a college or university education to be successful, but to deliver world class playing surfaces do need a ton of experience, and knowledge. Unfortunately, the weed wacker man gets a bigger contract to prepare wickets……and so the issue can be understood throughout the region.
Ask how, or when ever did West Indies management get involve at the granular level to evaluate the problem. Have you ever seen a team of management experts at your local ground talking to ground staff? No. How then will management be able to understand this problem? To fix a problem, one must understand it. And speaking of change, to regain the support of millions of fans, the West Indies management must change from inside out. Competent people who care about our cricket are out there. Find them. It’s time to end this global embarrassment. Let new people establish management standards. Accountability. Performance expectations, and tying performance at every level to compensation. Team failures means management failure. Teams are operating on management decisions like what data the analyst give players before a match. Finally, we must stop placing blame, for players are only partially responsible for any success or failure. Statisticians, analyst, psychologist, coaches and captain must all take responsibility. Everyone mentioned here plays a part in the end result. Analysts in particular, must be evaluated and monitored, because I strongly believe they are causing much of the mental problems and lack of clarity for players. I believe that we are trying to emulate what top teams are doing, but we do not know what we are doing, simply because we put people in positions that they are unqualified for.
Sincerely,
Gopaul. S Rampersaud
Chapel Hill NC USA
