Submitted by DeeWord
Michael Holding has been forthright and unrelenting towards both the players and the WICB re the strike action out of India. Below is snap-shot of his latest remarks and those of other former players as a back-drop to the current WI cricket news-cycle.
There are questions re governance of our cricket, the integrity of the cricket leaders and best way forward for our young players. What does the future hold for a board of directors and team that has been mired in controversy and stuck in mediocrity over the last 20 years? Should we accept that the ‘Fire in Babylon’ days or even a 75% replica will never again be achieved? Will WI cricket now languish forever as better only than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in Tests and ODIs?
And if so WHY can’t we find a way forward to success?
Referring to the Task Force Report Holding bowled a devastating series of deliveries.
HIS FIRST DELIVERY to the WICB straw-man was a gentle warm-up ball: “The chairman of selectors has pointed out that the new captain, Jason Holder, is younger, and that they see him as the person to take this team forward.”
And then on possible victimisation, A FASTER BALL WHIZZING PAST THE NOSE : “ Bravo has not just been relieved of the captaincy. He, along with Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard, isn’t even in the squad to play the five games. Now while arguments can be put forward for the reasons to seek a younger captain, however flimsy those might be, what can you say about leaving the three gentlemen mentioned above out of the squad?”
Ralph Thorne the attorney who represented the players in their dispute with the board said ominously: “The three players have suffered an insidious victimisation.”
So take a look at the big-picture perspective based on the comments attributed to chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd made following the aborted tour of India: “I spoke to them on every occasion, I told them what was the situation …they didn’t listen. I’m very disappointed they didn’t. It was just a dialogue that was needed. I told them to play and assess the situation . I don’t think it was the intelligent thing to do. I am very disappointed.”
SO IS IT VICTIMISATION ?
HOLDING’S BALL THUDDED INTO THE WICKET-KEEPER’S GLOVES, “that is fairly obvious,” and continued, “Once again, the WICB has commissioned a report… and used what it felt like using to suit its own agendas. Yes, the report did apportion some blame to the players, in particular the seniors… [BUT] In its opening salvo, the task force blamed the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) for creating the problem.”
In simple terms, Holding was highlighting that the Task Force had lambasted the bad management practices by the WICB executives. From the opening paragraph of the Report he noted their remarks: ‘We are of the view that the overriding excuse for the players withdrawing their labour was the attempted imposition of new contractual terms of employment on the players negotiated between the board and WIPA, which the players saw for the first time after they got to India. There is something fundamentally wrong in sending a team to faraway places with only a historical view of their terms of employment and then to radically change those terms after they arrive in that distant place.’
THIS IS THE GLARING STARE DOWN AFTER THE DELIVERY. He said, “If that doesn’t clearly state that WIPA and the WICB created the problem then I am missing something. But once again, players are being victimised and punished, and I have yet to hear about any repercussions for those who created the problem in the first place.”
HOLD THAT GLARE: We are yet to hear about any repercussions for those who created the problem in the first place!
Now back in his day there would have been a buzz around the ground as the crowd got ready to herald the next ball and reasoned this build would result in stumps being cat-spraddled ; he doesn’t disappoint here either:
“Obviously questions have been asked of the selectors. One volunteered the information that the three were left out because they wanted to have a look at younger cricketers leading up to the World Cup… Narsingh Deonarine, who has been selected in the squad, is older than the three who have been left out.” BOWLED. COMPREHENSIVELY BEATEN AND BOWLED.
HOLDING TURNED AT THE TOP OF HIS MARK AND STARTED IN AGAIN: “ Another argument put forward is that they looked at the stats, and the cricketers left out weren’t measuring up…Bravo was just selected for the ICC ODI Team of the Year for 2014; that is the team selected from among all the ODI cricketers in the world. Bravo can make that team, but his “stats” aren’t good enough to make the West Indies side? That being the case, I think the ICC should just hand the World Cup trophy to West Indies instead of playing the tournament, as they have one hell of a team.”
RADIO COMMENTATOR: OUT. Holding is on fire here today… the wicket keeper and slip cordon are in trouble back there from those cartwheeling stumps; he has completely blown over another WICB batsman with extreme pace and accuracy. He is on a hat-trick.
HOLDING GLIDES IN, “One of the recommendations made by the task force… was, ‘The WICB must now build pillars of trust and respect with the players who are the board’s employees. In this process, WIPA and the senior players have a very real role to play.’ Folks, that was recommendation No. 1. Is this how the WICB intends to build trust and respect?” CROWDS ROARS. YORKER. BOWLED HIM.
Now all pumped up, HE GOES BACK TO START HIS FINAL DELIVERY . “When this fiasco started in India, I wrote that the WICB had learnt nothing over the years. I pointed out that players who were happy to take up the mantle of representing the region when previous players went on strike were now ready to emulate the earlier cricketers and strike themselves. Now the WICB is looking to replace the ‘troublemakers’ – one of whom, Darren Sammy, was seen as a ‘board man/ not long ago – with new players. But you can bet your bottom dollar that these new players will soon become disenchanted and start rumblings against the board in the not-too-distant future”.
As Holding asserts, the same carousel starts all over again as a young neophyte still finding his way in the WI team and too in international cricket has been tasked to lead this struggling ODI team.
Clive Lloyd was fulsome in his praise for the new captain Jason Holder: “We know he will continue to grow and demonstrate leadership. He has a very good cricketing brain and has the makings of a very good leader… [he is] one of the good young players who we believe will form part of the long-term future of West Indies cricket”.
At 23, Holder is in fact almost the same age of another novice captain, South African Greame Smith. He was also asked to lead his country after a crisis and like Holder was not yet an established and settled member of the team. He started his tenure with double centuries in his third and fourth test as captain. Maybe it’s a good omen that Holder starts his captaincy career against the same SA. Time will tell! But certainly, SA Cricket then was absolutely more stable than WI cricket is currently.
Ezra Moseley the former WI and Barbados fast bowler and Holder’s mentor & coach at St. Michael School is very positive. “From what I know of Jason Holder, I think he’ll handle the challenge pretty well.” In fact, Moseley always expected Holder to become a WI team captain. He said, “last year, after he was already in the West Indies team, I told the St Michael scorer that he would soon become West Indies captain. I wasn’t joking.”
According to Tony Cozier, Bryan Davis, a West Indies and T&T opener of the 1960s said, “the young captain doesn’t have time to get experience on the field of play and bond with his team. If you were thinking about a transition to youth, that should have happened after the World Cup.”
And a former chairman of selectors Mike Findley offered a similar perspective, “I would have thought they would have given him a chance to develop as a player before they thrust upon him the responsibility of captaincy of a West Indies team that is really struggling. They have pushed him into the firing line too early. It’s bound to affect the young man. I hope he is strong enough to cope.”
But let Mike Holding complete that final delivery and his devastating over: “A… knowledgeable man…defined madness as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. I leave you readers to determine what you think then defines the people running the WICB. That has been the board’s behaviour for years now. It’s time to change the culture of the board, and it’s obvious that change won’t come from within.”
EXACTLY. This madness will not stop unless the stakeholders in every island’s cricket board make it happen and get a change in the WICB governance method. Will stats quo remain the same after the next round of WICB elections? Your voice is needed.
YOU, MR MEMBER OF BCA OR JCA OR ANTIGUA CRICKET ASSOC. YOU NEED TO BE THE AGENT OF CHANGE.
Sunil Narine is set to return to international cricket © AFP
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