“Take a Rest”

*Photos from www.cricinfo.com

A calypso by the band Tradewinds telling the WICB to “Take a Rest” has made for popular listening in the past week around the region and after the West Indies win today to secure a 2-1 series victory in the one day internationals, it is even more apt for the Board to take the advice and leave our cricket be! Ken Gordon may be resigning but nothing will change when his replacement comes into the job. The old boys network will continue as normal and life will go on.

Blunder after blunder characterised the WICB’s approach to the tour of England and ironically one of them- the row between the parasites and Gayle- served to unify and motivate the team in the one days and helped salvage some West Indian pride. Obviously nothing can take away from the inspired performances of Chanderpaul who continued to bat on a separate level from everyone else, Edwards who bowled with pace and much better control in the past, Powell who again looked like the bowler we saw in the World Cup, Rampaul who bowled with heart and commitment and the cameos of Samuels, Bravo and Morton on different occasions. While I didn’t think that Gayle should have been awarded the captaincy based on his poor performances in recent times, I admit that he did a good job in leading the team and hopefully this bit of responsibility will also translate into his batting. Once again the attitude of the team was encouraging and it warmed my heart to see the enthusiastic fielding, chatter and celebrations when English wickets fell.

Tony Cozier wrote an article earlier this week about the drastic transformation of the team when it came to the shorter form of the game while Will Luke in a cricinfo.com article says that the West Indies deserve to celebrate.

At least is wasn't 4-0!

At least West Indian fans can console themselves with the fact that it was a 3-0 and not a 4-0 whipping! From a dominant position at the start of the fourth day to fighting for a draw at the end and ultimately losing today in a match that lost a day and a half to rain! Poor captaincy and bowling enabled England to pose a lead and the continued poor batting of the top order meant that defeat was going to be the only result. Chanderpaul continued his defiance but even he couldn’t stave off the obvious.

Hopefully this series will have proven to Ganga fans that he is not a test class player and the appointment of a man as vice-captain who can’t even justify his place on the team was a ridiculous move by the selectors. Devon Smith still looks out of place, Sylvester Joseph does not convince me that he knows how to bat, Runako Morton is neither here nor there, Marlon Samuels is a waste of time and Chris Gayle needs to be dropped for his attitude and poor performances not rewarded with the one day captaincy! Ramdin has promise but he needs to work hard to improve his wicketkeeping; some proper competition for his place would force him to raise his game and be more consistent. The bowling is pathetic with the exception of Edwards but even he needs to work to improve his mediocre returns. Powell looked a different bowler from the one who played in the World Cup and he obviously is lacking in the brain department since there can be no other explanation for his playing the same nonsensical shot in both innings. Taylor has been struggling for a while and I think he needs a rest while Collyslow has gone past his sell by date. The only positives from the series were the immovable Chanderpaul, Bravo to an extent although he needs to convert his starts and stop throwing away his wicket and Darren Sammy’s debut.

Chanderpaul has received a lot of praise for his performance this series and it is richly deserved. If only the heart and fight he has demonstrated was replicated by a few more of his teammates! This is another article written about him in the UK Guardian.

So another series and another dismal performance. The solutions to the problems plaguing West Indian cricket are rather obvious but as long as they entail disturbing the status quo and restructuring the corrupt and inefficient old boys network- WICB- nothing will happen.

A Cruel April Fools Joke?

April Fools Day and all the West Indian fans must have been wishing that what happened in Guyana earlier today was just a cruel joke and that the actual game is scheduled for tomorrow. The West Indies played like true minnows. Actually, it was even worse because none of the minnows has displayed this type of sickening behaviour on the field- lethargic, apathetic, lack of unity and spirit, poor body language. The Windies team of the past decade has been notorious for putting in some poor performances but I can’t remember having ever seen the players act like they did on Sunday. There was a total absence of life and it is obvious that the team is disunited and beset by internal problems like never before.

The bowling (with the exception of Powell) and fielding left a lot to be desired and as has become the norm, the batting collapsed. Chris Gayle once again confirmed that he is severely limited when it comes to mental capacity as did Dwayne Smith. Even after Lara got out, I still think that Sarwan and Chanderpaul could have pulled it off but for some odd reason they played as if it was a test match. I agree that there was a need to consolidate and rebuild after the loss of three wickets but playing out dot ball after dot ball was not the answer. Singles and with the size of this new ground twos would have kept the run rate manageable and the batsmen to follow would not have been placed under so much pressure. It is absurd that two part time bowlers can go for 20 runs off 7 overs while Muralitharan went for 59 off of 9!

Mathematically we still have a chance of qualifying for the semis, if we win our next three matches and the win/losses in the other matches go in our favour. However, while I would love for the Windies to win the World Cup, deep down, I know that they do not deserve to qualify for the semis based on how they have played. If by chance they manage to qualify, it will still not disguise the fact that West Indies cricket is in need of a serious revolution, starting with a purging of the administrators and a creation of a body that is truly transparent, democratic and accountable and followed by a proper restructuring of the game throughout the region from primary school right up to the senior level. This is the ideal. The reality is that I am speaking of the Caribbean. I need say no more.