Hendriks PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Jackie Hendriks, has hit out at the attitude of certain players during the recent West Indies tour of England and which led to their non-selection for the coming tour of Australia.
Speaking at the association's annual presentation function at the Terra Nova Hotel last Thursday evening, Hendriks, himself a former West Indies representative, said he found it "incomprehensible that any player could be given the honour of representing the West Indies at the highest level and choose not to be totally involved and committed to his team and the game of cricket."
Among the players who represented the West Indies in England but who were not selected for the tour of Australia are Jamaicans Christopher Gayle and Franklyn Rose, and although he insisted that it had nothing to do with indiscipline, chairman of the selection committee, Michael Findlay stated in an interview with the media that some of the players who were in England were not selected for Australia because of their poor attitude.
Findlay was quoted as saying that "over the years there have been players with an attitude which is not in the best interest of West Indies cricket".
Quizzed about the exclusion of Gayle and Rose, Findlay said that it was difficult to get him (Gayle) in among the seven batsmen.
"He didn't perform as well as as he ought to have performed (in England) and we detected a bit of attitude problem with Christopher which we need to speak to him about."
On Rose, he said: "Franklyn's main problem has been his attitude."
Hendriks, chairman of the West Indies Board's cricket committee, said that he agreed with the selectors' stance and that the attitude of the players is of grave concern to him.
"Is it that the wearing of the West Indies team's colours is no longer considered an honour and a privilege? And when one thinks of of the financial reward that the players earn these days it is even more bewildering.
"In our life time only a very few are given this glorious opportunity, and to squander it in this manner is really a great shame.
"Players who aspire to play cricket at the first-class and Test level must realise that talent is not the only criteria. Cricket at that level demands total concentration, discipline, a proper practise regiment to correct weaknesses and to build on strengths, consistently high performances, a sense of the importance of team before self, a continuous and total physical fitness programme, respect for one's captain, teammates, manager and coaches, and for authority in general, and to remember that style is no substitute for substance."
Hendriks commended the example set by players like James Adams and Courtney Walsh, and implored the schools, the clubs, the parishes, his Board members and all involved in cricket make the effort to ensure that the country's young cricketers understand what is necessary for them to achieve their ambitions "so that never again should we have players omitted from any side because of attitude problems."
By Tony Becca
Senior Sport Editor
