Time to overhaul WI cricket structure

THE EDITOR: It’s extremely disappointing to continue hearing the calls for Brian Lara’s head by leading West Indian cricket personalities. Although one can understand the reasons for the outcry, is sacking Brian Lara as captain really going to solve the problems in West Indies cricket? I think not. Just a few months ago, these, very same critics held the living batting legend on a pedestal proclaiming his world record performance. Don’t be fooled, I am not letting emotion get the better of sensibility here. Every avid cricket fan knows for a fact, not because you are a world class batsman does this make you a great cricket captain. However I am still of the view that Brian Lara is the best option to lead West Indies at present. Yes he has made serious tactical errors in this series, but the real problem here is a lack of penetrative bowling, bottom line. If you are unable to bowl out the opposition twice, it doesn’t matter who the captain is, the result will be the same.

Does anyone think Steve Waugh, arguably the best modern captain of his era, would be able to lead the present West Indies team to improved success. I bet not. The problem here is the system used to run and operate West Indies cricket. It took Australia 14 years to become world beaters, in this period there was a complete overhaul and structural change of Australian cricket resulting in their success over the past nine years. New Zealand, South Africa, England, India and Sri Lanka (lesser extent) have all undergone similar structural overhauls. The result is that these nations are all playing a ‘new’ game of cricket, modern scientific cricket. Until Pakistan and West Indies overhaul their cricket structure their over abundance of naturally talented cricketers will not be consistently successful at the Test level. Test cricket cruelly shows up your preparation deficiencies which you can get away with in the shorter version of the game. Cricket is now professional business, played by professional cricketers.

Some argue that West Indies should hand over the captain’s reigns to the refreshing, exuberant, youngster Ramnaresh Sarwan, as it worked for South Africa (Graeme Smith) and England (Michael Vaughn). However there is one very fundamental difference here, Smith and Vaughn were put in charge of teams generated from a revamped cricket structure, everything was in place for them to create success. Sarwan will be thrown into a disjointed system almost ensuring his eventual failure, like Walsh, Hooper, Adams and Lara before him. Let’s fix the structure of West Indies cricket before we thrown another victim to the wolves. The now mature Brian Lara possesses all the necessary tools and character to hold us over till these fundamental changes are put in place to set West Indies cricket right. Surely there will be a lot more losing before we begin to win consistently again, but that’s the way it is.

Brian is criticised on two counts, with justification, yet I assure you he still remains the best option at present. He has made some tactical errors as captain and it seems being unorthodox is his norm. This probably stems from his first Test as Captain, against India in Barbados in 1997, replacing an injured Walsh. India chasing a paltry 120 for victory, were dismissed for 81. Brian had to try lots of different things and was successful, this coupled with his natural flair for the unorthodox, created his style of captaincy. Perhaps he needs to temper this and become a little more conventional in his approach. His second criticism is his inability to motivate his teammates, this is a lot more complex than just an inability to motivate. The system must change with an emphasis on overall professionalism before this can be solved.

I urge the vultures to back off, voice your opinions, but in a constructive, positive manner. Right now all you are doing is playing into the hands of the English and further demoralising an already badly faltering unit. Brian Lara only has a few more years left in the game, after all he has done for West Indies cricket in its darkest era, he deserves some dignity at this stage of his career. No one likes to lose and believe me Brian hates losing more than any of us. Let’s show a little more respect to one of the five greatest West Indian cricketers of all time, it’s not entirely his fault that we find ourselves in our present predicament.

DR NIGEL CAMACHO
Port-of-Spain