West Indies’ Amazing Self-Flattery
As the world of cricket goes, it could come as no surprise should the West Indies cricket team perform well enough to emerge either as finalists or champions of the Cricket World Cup 2021 (CWC2021).
The foregoing statement may well be an indictment of the state of the sport today and not only of the state of West Indies cricket.
Several of the cricketing nations have, over the past several years, been playing a sort of musical chairs in respect of the different versions of the game.
The shorter the version the more challenging it is to find consistency amongst the cricket teams put in the competition arena by their respective countries.
Caribbean fans may readily that given the approach to cricket by the region’s players, literally, ‘any number could play’, much like the popular gambling game of ‘Whe Whe’.
Genuine Caribbean cricketing fanatics will stay with their regional team as their favourites to win the Cup on yet another occasion. However, they are also very well prepared for the ‘usual’ disappointment.
Some would suggest that it all depends on which of the several versions of the West Indies cricketers show up for each of the matches to be played if only because on any given day, the regional side does possess immense talent.
The reality though is that possession of talent in and of itself is not enough to galvanise the team to succeed at the international level today in the T20 version of the game. Indeed, it has not been enough to enable the team to be consistently performing at an optimum level over the past several years, much to the chagrin of Caribbean fans of the game, to say nothing of one-time supporters of the regional team in cricketing nations around the world.
Money has changed our players…and the Board
Cricket aficionados around the Caribbean would readily recall that it was not too long ago, when the then West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC), not Cricket West Indies (CWI), insisted on participation in regional cricket competitions under its control, was one of the eligibility criteria for making the regional side.
The reaction of several of the cricketers was swift. Some claimed that the authorities were forcing them to play too much cricket. This came at a time when tours were not as frequent as is the case today and also when cricket was just the Test matches and One Day Internationals.
At the time, our regional cricketers paid little attention to the fact that in football, players play for their professional clubs and seize upon every opportunity to represent their respective countries in regional, continental and world cup tournaments.
Today, we have the addition of T20 cricket being organised in different countries around the world. In any given year a player, considered good enough, could be playing the shortened version of cricket for an entire year.
There are no complaints from our cricketers who easily move from one country to the next after having secured contracts with multi-nation teams in different countries, about there being too much cricket. They are now so excited at being fully engaged.
Many Caribbean cricket analysts conclude that what has changed in the region is that the sport has been professionalised at the global level, providing players with ample opportunities to become wealthy.
CWI, itself, as the governing body for the sport in the Caribbean, was also caught up in the financial euphoria of the shift towards professionalism. Still very insular in their thinking, successive generations of Board members, failed to employ professionals in the administration of the sport as things changed globally.
The treasury appears to be healthy and for some, that is what matters and constitutes, for them, leadership success.
The appearance on the scene of the Indian Premier League
Even today, the CWI’s members are still trying to catch up with their counterparts around the world.
Former Australian Cricketer, Martin Crowe introduced a shortened version of cricket called, Cricket Max in the 1990s but the England and Wales Cricket is credited with fashioning rules that saw the official introduction of the T20 competition amongst English County teams in 2003. The popularity of the shortened version – T20, led to the International Cricket Council convening the first T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.
Allen Stanford, now of much infamy, began his own Stanford Series in Antigua and Barbuda, featuring 19 teams, in 2006 and then again in 2008, with an amazing wash of money. The one-off Stanford Super Series that attracted only the England and Wales Cricket Board amongst international cricketing nations and the now renowned Stanford XI proved to be a grand cricketing farce but with loads of money. It boasted, “The 11 players on the winning side would each pocket a cool $1 million. The reserves from the winning side would share a further million, as would the backroom and management staff. For the losing team, a big fat zero.
The remainder of the spoils, $7 million, would go equally to the ECB and the WICB.”
One is today very certain that despite the embarrassment of the aforementioned Stanford enterprise and his subsequent incarceration, the sport of cricket in the Caribbean and indeed around the world, garnered much inspiration that once sufficiently lucrative outcomes are available, there will be much to gain from organising T20 competitions.
We see the impact of this in all the Premier Leagues spawned across the cricketing world, including the Caribbean Premier League.
Caribbean World Cup hopes
Much has been said by the region’s cricketing analysts about the harsh criticisms that they have levelled at the Selectors and the leadership of CWI regarding the West Indies team to CWC2021.
While fans would love to see the Caribbean team emerge victorious in the CWC2021, many have enough of an understanding of the game to know that it is not magic. They are also aware of the fortunes of many of the players over the past year in particular.
Caribbean cricket fans are also bothered by the fact that too many of the players are bordering on geriatrics.
Importantly, Caribbean sports fans are always hard on themselves and much more so on their athletes. They know that some of the players are simply talking too much about the team’s chances.
It may well be that the players are expected to do what is common in the marketing of popular wrestling shows like WWE. The players are brought to the fore to excite the fans to achieve greater interest and more involvement via pay-per-view television sales.
Much of what some of our players are being quoted as saying borders on the ridiculous and therefore ought not to be associated with the reality that Caribbean sports fans are only too aware of.
There is not much that the CWI leadership can say at this stage. They have to be supportive of the selectors’ decision in respect of the final team to CWC2021. Both groupings, the CWI leadership and the selectors must be constantly praying for miraculous performances from what may easily be the oldest team in the competition, itself a colossal shame and embarrassment.
Some would readily suggest that the CWI could easily have found a better way to provide the geriatrics on the team with a final send-off from West Indies cricket.
One of the features of the sad enterprise that is the West Indies team at CWC2021 is the fact that several of the players are familiar with each other, having played against each other in the IPL and other T20 competitions. They may well have a strong bond that compels them to justify their continued selection, even if they are in their declining years. This may well be the source of their optimism in the competition. They may have more confidence in their seemingly over-bloated reliance on one another than on the younger players recommended by pundits of the game, but more importantly, by former experienced West Indian cricketers.
A dose or two of reality???
In the past week, we have heard from Jeff Dujon, speaking about the review of the selection programme of CWI. He was at pains to point out that the announcement of the review had nothing to do with heady criticisms that CWI has received since the publication of the team to CWC2021. He tried to give the impression that this was something that had been on the cards. The two are in no way related.
Of course, the fact that Dujon had to make that supporting statement may well be designed to mask the reality.
The timing was as off as was the very selection process that has been heavily criticised across the Caribbean.
Roger Seepersad, writing in the Trinidad Express online newspaper on Sunday 17 October 2021 observed that while speaking “at a ‘Let’s Rally—T/20 World Cup’ webinar hosted by the University of Trinidad and Tobago yesterday, CWI vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow said the franchise system had not translated into success at the international level and that the regional body will assess the current programme with the view to making improvements.”
It, therefore, appears that CWI is itself at a stage where despite the treasury’s welcome of improved funds the organization has been forced to admit that its ultimate goal of better and more sustained performances from the players as well as a consistent output of more quality players, is simply not being met, despite the emphasis that has been placed on it.
Seepersad quotes Shallow as saying, “we have realised the franchise system as it is would not translate to success at the international level, and that has been proven by our players from that same franchise system”.
Thankfully, CWI is at a point where the leadership may well have realised that they have not been reaping the anticipated returns on their investment.
It is nonetheless not surprising that the aforementioned comments are coming from the CWI’s Vice President. What is surprising is that it has taken so very long for him and the Board to conclude what is now laid bare.
One must be concerned, however, about the path the CWI will take in redressing the existing reality.
Regardless of the performances of the West Indies cricket team in CWC2021, there is an imperative that has to be undertaken.
Cricket is being followed by our people. Some are still engaged by the discussions we read and hear all around us. But this is not enough. The game in the Caribbean is woefully in need of genuinely critical analysis that must be undertaken to allow for some semblance of planning for the future.
