Submitted by Wayne Cadogan

It appears that everyone wants to condemn Sir Garfield Sobers for speaking the truth regarding the status of players and state of West Indies Cricket. Well, I endorse every word that he said, he is so right.

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I have been saying the same thing for the past few years myself and have been scoffed at. Yes they are a few exceptions who are committed to West Indies cricket but the majority is not. I totally agree that the majority are there for the money and personal glory.

The other world cricketers who represent their countries play with honour and therefore that level of commitment and pride is to their individual countries and their people. We do not have that kind of commitment by the West Indies players to the West Indies Cricket team. However, when they are playing for their respective islands, you can see a different level of commitment and pride, one that is not seen when playing for the West Indies team.

Let’s face the facts, we are divided in the Caribbean as a people; politically and socially, and it has cascaded to the cricket team. When it suits us, we say that we are West Indians, but we are very much divided.  How can we expect that the players will unite and be committed to West Indies cricket!

Take Bravo senior for example, “IPL first. Trinidad second and then any number could play”. Then the Board brings him to captain the West Indies team, well, everyone knows the embarrassment, problems and debt that he created for the Board and West indies cricket. He should never have been selected as a West Indies captain after his statement regarding his loyalty to the IPL.

We have to stop sweeping everything under the rug and making excuses for our players. Given the mindset of the majority of our young cricketers today in relation to the players of yesteryear, our cricket will always languish at the bottom. It is only a matter of time before the West Indies team suffers the same fate as Zimbabwe.

Another major problem here in the West Indies, is that only those who played cricket feel that they are the only ones who have the right to comment on the game. The truth is, and everyone will hate me for making this factual statement, the education level among the players is very low with the exception of a few players.